Shisno Chronicles: Friendship is Magic
by nightelf37
Summary: This story is copied straight from FiMFiction, please check there for a better summary. This fanfic features an Original Character of mine named Chronicle in the world of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". Description of him can be found in my profile. Deviation from the original plot will be minimal, but may look different due to the story being told in his point of view.
1. Chapter 1: Mare in the Moon

**ATTENTION: Check my profile for information on the OC about to appear in this fic.**

nightelf37 takes a deep breath.

nightelf37: Okay. I think I should get started.

?: Hey! What's this?!

nightelf37:Huh? Who's there?

?: Hi there, author! I'm—

nightelf37 turns to the unknown individual.

nightelf37: Hey! I haven't introduced you yet! Get outta here!

nightelf37 sighs as unknown individual leaves.

nightelf37: Already, the fourth wall's breaking. And for the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

And an extra note: Just like as seen in animés, there will "be eyecatches" I'd like to apply between breaks where the episode the chapter is based on enters a commercial break. Unless stated otherwise, imagine the music in this link ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s) (remove the spaces, of course). Because links aren't allowed, I'll have to inconvenience you with the annoying link over and over.

Also, here are some notes on the text format of this fic:

'word' - action is being pulled off either figuratively or by telekinesis

word - title or name of a literary work

_word_ - Chronicle's personal thoughts, flashbacks (with thoughts under normal text)

nightelf37: Now let's get started!

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

**Chapter 1: Mare In The Moon**

_Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects—all the different types of ponies. _

_But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon! She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. _

_Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since._

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Daytime in the unicorn city of Canterlot…

"Hmmm…"

Two ponies were reading what looked like an ornate hardback book. One of the readers was a unicorn pony with a deep blue coat, brown eyes, two-toned yellow-and-orange hair, a mildly ruffled short mane, a rather short tail, black markings on the hooves, a curved muzzle, and on the haunch was a "cutie mark" consisting of an orange circle depicting an open book inside. While one would assume this pony was a female, this pony was actually a male. This was Chronicle, a bodyguard currently on a break.

Next to him was another unicorn, a for-sure mare. She had a light purple coat, a dark indigo mane and tail both with a magenta and purple streak (and seemed to be properly brushed), dark violet eyes, and "cutie mark" consisting of a six-pointed pink star overlaid on a white one with five small white stars surrounding the two. This was his charge, Twilight Sparkle. While her bodyguard only showed casual interest, she on the other hoof took this rather seriously.

"Elements of Harmony…", mused Twilight, her voice marking her as a serious-minded thinker. "I know I've heard of those before. But where?"

C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS

A short while later…

Twilight and Chronicle were walking down a road, the former with the book they were reading in a pair of saddlebags slung on her back. Just then, they encountered three unicorns. Each of them had presents on their back.

"There you are, Twilight, Chronicle.", one of them said, a white mare with a pink mane, blue eyes, and three stars as her cutie mark.

"Twinkle.", greeted Chronicle in a casual, near-childlike tenor voice, then turned to the other two. "Minuette." A light blue mare with a two-tone mane of dark blue-and-white, blue eyes, and an hourglass cutie mark. "Lemon Hearts." A yellow mare with a cyan mane, dark blue eyes, and three hearts (two blue, one green) as her cutie mark. "What brings you to meet us on the road?"

"Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard.", explained Twinkle. "You want to come?"

"Would I?!" Chronicle seemed to be eager to come, then turned to his charge. "But I can only do so if **she** comes too."

Twilight recoiled a bit, and then said, "Oh, sorry, girls. I got a lot of studying to catch up on."

Chronicle then turned back to the trio in disappointment. "Well, considering her answer, guess I can't. Again."

Twilight then gave the trio a big grin and galloped off. Chronicle begrudgingly followed.

Twinkle sighed in disgust. "Does that pony do anything except study? I think she's more interested in books than friends." The three of them then went on their way.

"I know I've heard of the Elements of Harmony.", Twilight said to herself as she ran. As she and Chronicle crossed a bridge, they encountered two unicorn mares. One had a turquoise coat, gold-colored eyes, grayish cyan hair with white highlights, and a lyre cutie mark. The other had a pink coat, purple hair with a streak of a lighter shade, purple eyes, three brilliant-cut diamonds as a cutie mark, and was holding a small shopping bag in her mouth.

While Twilight bypassed the two without so much as an acknowledgement even as the turquoise mare raised a hoof in greeting, Chronicle had the liberty to pause and greet them. "Hey there, Heartstrings, Amethyst Star." He then went on his way as he followed his charge towards an ivory-colored spire, climbing the staircase that spiraled around it. Chronicle decided to use a little magic.

His horn glowed bright blue (not brown like his eyes), and his legs glowed likewise for a moment. He was now slightly faster and he managed to catch up with his charge just as she made it to a pair of double doors. She slammed through them, knocking back someone on the other side, whom Chronicle saw. It was a light purple dragon. The spiny plates running from head to tail are green, his underbelly is a pale yellow-green, and he has darker yellow-green ears shaped as tiny bat wings.

"Spike! **Spiiiike**!", Twilight called before she noticed the dragon. "Spike?" The dragon, whose name was Spike, got up from what just happened to him, his green eyes spinning. "There you are."

"Don't slam through the door next time!", Chronicle scolded Twilight as he slowed to a stop next to the dragon. They were inside a library, with various scientific instruments—including a large hourglass—arrayed near the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side. Twilight ran ahead of them and was on the "main floor" of the library. As she searched, Chronicle and Spike walked up the small staircase that led from the entrance to the "main floor". Just then, Chronicle noticed a red gift box impaled on Spike's tail.

"Quick!", said Twilight as she looked around. "Find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies." She then turned to her companions with a puzzled look on her face. "What's that for, Spike?" Spike pulled the box loose from his tail.

"Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but…" The bottom of the box fell out, dumping a damaged teddy bear that squeaked when it hit the floor. He was somewhat younger than the unicorns, but considering he was a dragon…

"Oh, Spike…" She proceeded to knock some books off a stack with her head. "…you know we don't have time for that sort of thing."

"But we're on a break!" Spike proceeded to go to one of the ladders in the library and climbed it.

"Yeah.", agreed Chronicle as he followed Spike. "As much as I like to read at times, to stay cooped up with you with no one else but Spike for days on end can drive even me nuts."

Spike turned to the blue unicorn. "Well, your contract with her is coming to an end soon, so you don't have to worry for much longer."

"Well, I'm still concerned for her, even if it's not exactly in my job description." Meanwhile, Twilight was telekinetically moving books around, her horn glowing brightly, looking for the Predictions and Prophecies book. "To be a reclusive shut-in won't do her much good."

"No…no…no…no, no, no!", Twilight groaned in spite of the many books she now has surrounding her. "**Spike!**"

"It's over here!", the dragon called as he held out a book. He was promptly dragged by the book as it was 'pulled' by Twilight. Before he could fall to the floor, Chronicle 'caught' him in time and 'set' him down safely on his back.

"Ah!" Twilight dropped the rest of the books and trotted off, levitating the one she got from Spike alongside.

"You should be more careful, Twilight.", said Chronicle as he 'picked up' the other books left behind and set them into a couple of neat piles, with Spike picking up one of those to sort in the library. As usual, his charge ignored him as she 'walked through' the book as it was propped on a table. "Yeesh. This library could really use a card catalog."

"Elements, Elements, E, E, E…aha!", Twilight proceeded to read the book. "'Elements of Harmony'. See 'Mare in the Moon'?"

Spike was now on a ladder, replacing books on a shelf. "Mare in the Moon?", he remarked. "But that's just an old ponies' tale."

Twilight just flipped more pages. "Mare, Mare…aha! The Mare in the Moon. Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon." Meanwhile, Spike was slowly losing his balance on the ladder as Chronicle 'moved' the rest of the dropped books back in their places. "Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal." Twilight straightened with a gasp. "Spike, Chronicle, do you know what this means?"

"No.", said the dragon.

"Can't say I do.", admitted her bodyguard. Just then, Spike lost balance and fell down with a yell. Chronicle quickly moved to catch him as the dragon landed on his back. He also 'caught' the books Spike had and set them on the floor. Twilight came over and 'passed' a scroll and quill pen to Spike.

"Take a note, please.", she said as Spike got off of Chronicle. "To the Princess."

"Okey-dokey."

Twilight then paced across the room as he wrote what she dictated, "My dearest teacher: My continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster."

"Hold on. Preci…preci…" Clearly, Spike was not familiar with the word.

"Let me spell it out for you.", said Chronicle as he went over to Spike. "P-R-E-C-I-P-I-C-E." As Spike wrote, the blue unicorn then thought, _Uncanny that the written language Equestria uses is English. Convenient or what?_

"For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night." Twilight continued to dictate. As she paced about, Chronicle thought he could see something strange in the hourglass. He walked up to it and when he lined himself up so that opposite him was a stone unicorn head in the room. As he did, he saw something that wasn't the stone unicorn head. It was something…sinister. Like a bad omen. He couldn't describe it, but catlike pupils were its most prominent feature. "Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Twi-light…Spar-kle.", Spike finished writing. "Got it!" This shook Chronicle off his senses as he shook his head.

"Great! Send it." When Chronicle looked back to see the stone unicorn head through the hourglass, all he could see was just that. Sighing, he walked over to his charge.

"Now?"

"Of course!"

"Uh…I don't know, Twilight. Princess Celestia's a little busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration, and it's, like, the day after tomorrow." Twilight came over to Spike and went face-to-face with him.

"That's just it, Spike." She then straightened up, looking to the sun. "The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. It's imperative that the Princess is told right away!"

"Impera…impera…"

"Important.", Chronicle answered for Twilight before she could speak and end up throwing him off his feet. "No need to write **that** down."

"Okay, okay!" Spike took a deep breath, held the rolled parchment in front of his mouth, and blew a burst of green fire over it. The message burnt away, leaving only a tendril of sparkling pink smoke that snaked out a high window. "There! It's on its way. But I wouldn't hold your breath."

"Oh, I'm not worried, Spike.", Twilight replied in a smug tone. "The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor, she's never once doubted me."

"There's a first for everything, you know.", commented Chronicle.

Suddenly, Spike's cheeks bulged as if he was about to vomit; instead, he belched up a burst of green fire that formed into a sealed scroll, which dropped to the floor.

"I knew she would want to take immediate action.", said Twilight as Chronicle decided to 'pick up' the scroll and open it.

"My dearest, most faithful student Twilight…", Chronicle read the scroll. "You know that I value your diligence, and that I trust you completely."

"Mmm-hmm."

"But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!" Twilight gasped as that sentence seemed to hit her hard.

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- Chronicle on the left reading the scroll, Spike in the middle looking to his left (our right), and Twilight Sparkle with her eyes widened. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

The next day…

Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike were now riding a pegasus-drawn, flying gold chariot that soared above the clouds and the landscape of Equestria. The two pegasi pulling it were white stallions in gold livery and shoes. They had two-tone blue tails and matching crests on their helmets, similar to those worn by soldiers in ancient Rome (as Chronicle would personally put it).

"My dear Twilight: There is more to a young pony's life than studying.", Spike now read the letter. "So I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location, Ponyville." The chariot passed through some clouds as the three passengers looked on. Ahead was a pleasant-looking small town of wood-frame, thatched-roof buildings bordered by a stream and mountain. To one side was a fenced fruit orchard.

While Spike continued to read the letter, Chronicle felt relieved that he was gonna have a change of scenery. However, Twilight was clearly not enthused over this job. "And I have an even more essential task for you to complete—make some friends." The purple unicorn hung her head over the side with a soft moan as Spike turned to her. "Look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?"

There was a long pause. Finally, she brightened suddenly. "Yes. Yes, it does. You know why? Because I'm right. I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return."

"Then when will you make friends like the Princess said?" The chariot began to descend as some of the populace watched them land.

"She said to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends."

"But **that** task is even more essential, according to the Princess.", said Chronicle as the chariot touched down. "Being an antisocial shut-in isn't gonna do you any good." Twilight ignored her bodyguard as the two pegasi whinnied. _Also, I have a feeling that that's __**exactly**__ what Equestria's fate rests on._

"Thank you, sirs.", Twilight said to them as she, Chronicle, and Spike jumped off. As the pegasi smiled and huffed in response, the three gathered together as they noticed a pink earth pony (no wings or horns) walk their way. Her coat was cotton candy pink, her hot pink mane fluffy and curly, her eyes were cyan, and her cutie mark consisted of a trio of party balloons (two blue and one yellow).

"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!", commented Spike as the pony stopped in front of the trio and regarded them with narrowed, medium blue eyes and a smile. "Come on, Twilight, just try."

With uncertainly, Twilight managed to speak up. "Uh…hello?" The pink one responded with a massive gasp of pure surprise, a leap that left her briefly suspended in midair, and then she suddenly dashed off mid-air, nearly blowing the two unicorns' manes and tails off. "Well, that was interesting, all right."

"Let's try someone else.", suggested Chronicle as he 'took out' a scroll from an invisible pocket in space, which earned him curious stares from his companions.

While all unicorns have access to a pocket dimension which they called "magicspace", where they "banish" items to and "conjure" them for later use or disposal, Chronicle's seems to work differently. Instead of having the items appear or disappear in a flash of magic, he pulls them out or puts them in through an invisible "rift" near his body which he can open and close at will. Also, his "magicspace"—which he calls "hammerspace" for some reason— functions like a clothing's pocket and cannot fit items bigger than its small "rift", which can only expand as far as two hooves put together, and is too small for a pony to attempt to slip through. He's also been kind enough to lend his "pocket" to his charge and her assistant a couple of times.

Chronicle turned to see a pair of earth pony mares. One of them had a light olive-colored coat, chartreuse eyes, an orange curled mane and tail, and three carrots as her cutie mark. The other had a pale cream coat, cyan eyes, curled navy hair with pink highlights, and three wrapped candies as a cutie mark. He then walked over to them as they talked to one another, Twilight and Spike not following. "Uhh…excuse me?"

The two turned to face him. "Hi there. Is there anything I can help you with?", the orange-maned one asked.

"Yes. The name's Chronicle." He extended a hoof, which the orange-maned earth pony took and shook.

"I'm Golden Harvest. But just call me Carrot Top." She then gestured to her companion. "And this is Bon Bon."

"Hi.", Bon Bon greeted as Chronicle 'opened' the scroll next to him and looked it up. (1)

"Do you know where Sweet Apple Acres is?", the unicorn asked.

Carrot Top pointed somewhere. "That way. Just follow that road out of town until you see a red barn. The barn is where you want to go."

"Thank you very much." Chronicle said, then turned to his companions. "See? Simple as that. Not everyone in this town is like the one who ran out on us."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

A few minutes later…

The three walked down a road across the orchard they had seen upon arrival to Ponyville.

"Summer Sun Celebration Official Overseer's Checklist", Spike read the scroll Chronicle had pulled out. They reached an open fence gate leading into a farm: well, barns, barrels, hay bales, and so forth. Above the gate hung a wooden board with an apple-shaped cutout. "Number one. Banquet preparations—Sweet Apple Acres."

Just then, they heard what Chronicle recognized to be a Southern-accented female voice. The three stopped short and turned to their right. "Yee-haa!"

They saw a honey-orange pony who had her blonde mane and tail tied into a ponytail at the end with two red bands, white freckles on her face, green eyes, a brown stetson (cowboy) hat atop her head, and a cutie mark depicting a trio of apples. She raced up to one apple tree, which had several empty wooden tubs set around its base, then fetched its trunk a solid kick (or "buck") with her hind legs. The strike shook enough apples loose to fill the tubs in seconds. She lifted her head proudly and crossed one foreleg over the other.

Twilight just hung her head with a sigh and trudged forward. "Let's get this over with." Spike and Chronicle followed as she lifted her head and approached the earth pony with a polite smile. "Good afternoon.", she introduced herself. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Just then, her face contorted in sudden pain as the earth pony grabbed one of her front hooves and shook it vigorously. "Well, howdy do, Miss Twilight.", she replied. "A pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends."

"Friends?", Twilight's voice vibrated. "Actually, I—"

"So, what can I do you for?" Applejack let go and gave a wink.

Not realizing that her hoof had been released, Twilight was still unconsciously working it up and down. Spike finally stopped its motion and laughed as she gives him a dirty look. Chronicle merely rolled his eyes.

Twilight cleared her throat and gave a smile. "Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?"

"We sure as sugar are.", Applejack answered. "Would you care to sample some?"

"Well, as long as it doesn't take too long." Applejack zipped away to an iron triangle hanging on a rope. And she was ringing it.

"**Soup's on, everypony!**"

Before they knew it, Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike were are quickly swept up in a stampede of earth ponies, which shortly cleared to leave them dazed and seated at a table surrounded by some trees that had some awnings over them.

_First place on the derp face._, Chronicle thought. _Wait. Now why did I think that?_

Suddenly, Applejack popped up next to them. "Now, why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?" Around them were the earth ponies that swept them up earlier.

"Thanks, but I really need to hurry." She was ignored as a piece of dessert was thrust in front of her, held by one of the family members.

"This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious…" As Applejack began to reel off names in an increasing tempo, one after another, each of the family members zipped to the table and deposited an apple-based food item before rushing off. "…Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart…" The stack eventually grew until it towered so tall that they had to climb up to see over it. "…Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp…" Applejack popped up again and took a huge breath before continuing.

"Big Macintosh…" A large red stallion, a horse collar around his neck, a shaggy orange mane and tail, dark green eyes, white freckles on his face, visible yellow 'hooves', and half of a green apple as a cutie mark. He was balancing a cupcake on one hoof.

"Apple Bloom…" A yellow filly with amber eyes, a large pink ribbon on her rose-colored mane, and no cutie mark. A three-layer cake was balanced on her back, just behind her ribbon.

"…aaaaand…" Applejack stuffed an apple in Twilight's mouth before zipping off. "…Granny Smith." A lime green mare whose hair was white with age and are each tied in a bun. She wore an orange apple-spotted laced neckerchief, had an apple pie cutie mark, and was snoozing in a rocking chair. "Up and at 'em, Granny Smith! We got guests!"

Granny Smith woke up with a snort, opening her red-orange eyes. "Wha—?", she said as she shambled over, mumbling. "Soup's on…I'm a—here I come, I'm comin'…" Her joints creaked audibly as she moved to the table. Twilight still had her mouth full from the fruit Applejack shoved into it.

"Why, I'd say they're already part of the family.", Applejack said as she patted Twilight's back.

One mighty spit sent the chewed-up apple flying so Twilight can voice an uneasy giggle. "Okay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way." There was a collective sigh from the others.

"Aren't you gonna stay for brunch?", Apple Bloom asked as she gave Twilight the big sad soulful eyes.

"Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do. "

"Awww…", the entire Apple family sighed once again. Just then, Chronicle's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Could we **please** stay for a bite to eat?", he asked. "I kinda skipped breakfast and I'm **so darn** hungry."

Twilight gave a sigh and grumbled, "Fine." This earned her cheers from the family.

C—TS—S—A—C—TS—S—A—C—TS—S—A

After brunch with the Apple family…

Spike came up a hill with the checklist. "Food's all taken care of.", he said. "Next is weather." Looking back, he saw Twilight trailing by several steps, her gut badly distended and her head nearly touching the ground. Chronicle wasn't nearly as full, but his pace had slowed as he walked behind her.

"I ate too much pie.", Twilight groaned in discomfort.

"Mmm-mmm.", Chronicle said in satisfaction. "That was the best meal I ever had. I think I can skip dinner today."

"Hmmm…there's supposed to be a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.", Spike said as the three looked up to see several clouds.

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?", said Twilight.

Suddenly, a multicolored blur flashed right in front of Chronicle and plowed his charge away. Chronicle turned to his right to see they have landed on a mud puddle. On top of Twilight was a cyan pegasus mare whose unruly mane and tail were both striped with all the colors of the rainbow (colors 'horizontally lined', warm ones closer to the head, and the cool ones 'outward' in the tail). She had magenta eyes and a cutie mark of a red/yellow/blue-striped lightning bolt issuing from a cloud.

Twilight groaned softly, muffled slightly by the mud, before the pegasus got upright with a big goofy grin. "Uh…'scuse me?", she laughed sheepishly as she leaned over Twilight, her voice raspy and tomboyish.

"Weren't you supposed to protect me from stuff like this?", Twilight grumbled to her bodyguard.

"Sorry, but normally I wouldn't have a full stomach.", Chronicle apologized as he patted it. "Also, I knew she didn't have any intention of hurting you anyway."

The blue pegasus laughed as she hovered a few feet up and Twilight groaned again. "Let me help you." And off she went, with Twilight having barely enough time to stand up before she pushed a gray cloud into position above the puddle. A few stomps on its top produced a quick shower that left Twilight clean, but also soaked from head to tail. "Oops. I—I guess I overdid it. Um… uh…how about this?" The pegasus then swooped down to fly in a tight circle around Twilight, creating a striped whirlwind that sucked all the mud out of the puddle. "My very own patented…Rainblow-Dry!" The pegasus then dropped to the ground. "No, no, don't thank me. You're quite welcome."

"Oh, really?", Chronicle snarked as they all looked to see the finished product: Twilight's mane and tail were a frizzed-out mess, not unlike those of the pink pony who bugged out on them earlier. She was clearly not amused and neither was Chronicle. Spike and the pegasus, on the other hoof, stifled a laugh and then gave it full voice, falling over in the process. The blue unicorn walked over and said, "Let me guess. You're Rainbow Dash?"

The pegasus bolted upright, pitching Spike away (who had fallen on her back as they laughed). "The one and only!" She got up and hovered to his face. "Why? You heard of me?"

"I heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear. The name's Chronicle." He then gestured to his companion with the frizzed-out mane. "This is my charge Twilight Sparkle. We and Spike there…" He gestured to the dragon. "…were sent by the Princess to check on the weather."

At that point, Rainbow was lounging on a cloud. "Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing."

"Practicing?", Twilight asked. "For what?"

"The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash pointed to a poster pasted on a far-off wall. Silhouettes of four pegasi streaked across its starry sky, while three more—two mares and a stallion—stood proudly in the foreground. All three of these wore goggles and blue-green jumpsuits, and their manes were electric blue. Three lightning bolts were displayed at the bottom, the center one having a pair of wings. "They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow." Rainbow did a loop and landed on another cloud. "And I'm gonna show 'em my stuff."

Twilight smiled shrewdly, "**The** Wonderbolts?"

"Yep."

"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?"

"That's them."

"Pffft! Please. They'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day."

Rainbow got up and turned to glare at Twilight. "Hey. I could clear the sky in ten seconds flat."

"Ten seconds flat?", Chronicle asked as he took out a timer from the same invisible pocket as from where he got the checklist.

"Prove it.", Twilight dared.

"Timer starts…now!"

Rainbow Dash regarded the unicorns below her from beneath lowered eyebrows for another moment, then—the instant Chronicle started the timer—sprung into action. Quickly she proceeded to kick apart one cloud after another. The wake of her movements blew Twilight's fluffed-up mane and tail back and forth as she, Chronicle, and Spike watched.

"Loop-the-loop around, and wham!"

After one last hit, the sky above Ponyville was left without a cloud in it—just as Chronicle's timer beeped to signal that ten seconds were over. To the left, Chronicle could see a round three-story pavilion, the Town Hall, with a porch at ground level and a balcony outside each upper story, and one-piece double doors. The structure stood in a large open area, the town square, which was located near the stream at the edge of town.

"What'd I say?", said Rainbow Dash as she dropped onto the bridge over the stream. "Ten seconds flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging."

The jaws of Spike and Twilight hung wide open at this acrobatic display. As Spike recovered, Chronicle commented, "It's true. It really took ten seconds. Now that's one fast pegasus." He then returned his timer into what he called his "pocket of hammerspace".

"You should see the look on your face!", Rainbow flew around and went up to Twilight. "You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more." Before anyone could say anything else, she zipped away.

"Wow…she's amazing!", remarked Spike as he turned to the purple unicorn, then toyed with her mane and smothered a guffaw. She gave him a disapproving little groan and stalked away toward the pavilion. "Wait! It's kinda pretty once you get used to it!"

C—TS—S—RD—C—TS—S—RD—C—TS—S—RD

Inside the Town Hall…

Spike was checking the list again. Behind him and his companions, banners and flowers have been hung on the walls. "Decorations." Inside the pavilion was a single circular room. There were plenty of elaborate hangings as well as a plethora of adornments for the balcony railings. "Beautiful.", he breathlessly commented.

"Yes. The décor is coming along nicely.", said Twilight as they walked forward. This oughta be quick. I'll be at the library in no time. Beautiful, indeed."

Ahead, Chronicle could see a unicorn mare standing on a small dais at the back of the room. She had a white coat with a very faint gray tinge, a violet mane and tail done in loose elegant curls, sapphire blue eyes, and three blue, rhombus-shaped (like playing card-diamonds) jewels as a cutie mark. Her appearance and bearing marked her as the sophisticated type.

"Not the décor…her!", Spike replied, pointing to the unicorn, who was levitating a few ribbon samples for a closer look.

"No…no…no…oh!...goodness, no…hmmm…", she was saying to herself, her voice as classy as one would expect.

Chronicle turned to see Spike's irises replaced with hearts; he was obviously charmed. The dragon then groomed himself as hearts floated up, "How are my spines? Are they straight?", he asked.

Twilight just gave him a funny look before approaching the dais. "Good afternoon.", she greeted.

The white unicorn glanced briefly toward her before turning back to her work. "Just a moment, please. I'm in the zone, as it were. Ah, yes!" She tightened a glittering red bow on a post. "Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help you—" The white unicorn turned around to see who she was talking to and trailed off into a cry of horror upon getting her first good look at Twilight's poofed-up wreck of a hairstyle. "Oh, my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?"

"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair."

"Out of my hair?", Rarity replied. "What about your hair?" She then started to gently bulldoze Twilight along.

"Wait! Where are we going? Help!"

The lovestruck dragon floated after the pair, using the end of his tail as a propeller. Chronicle just grumbled and followed.

C—TS—S—R—C—TS—S—R—C—TS—S—R

Later…

Rarity had taken the three (well, just Twilight, but Spike and Chronicle followed) to an ornately decorated two-story building that bore a striking resemblance to an antique carousel (to Chronicle, that is), including the horses attached to the small upper story's support posts and the one painted on a sign above the front door. This was the Carousel Boutique, whose front door was split halfway up its height into two sections, each with its own knob. Chronicle noted that nearly every house in Ponyville shared the same design in doors. In the fields behind the building were several tall tents.

Everyone was in the showroom in the ground floor of the shop. The large showroom had several mirrors, a changing room, and a low platform for customers to stand on so they could see their reflection. Currently, Twilight was that "customer".

"No…no…uh-uh." Rarity was saying as she 'used' Twilight as a mannequin for a couple of dresses.

"Too green." A rather put-out Twilight was dressed as a four-legged Statue of Liberty _Apparently, there is a Lady Liberty in Equestria, but what's her history here?_, Chronicle wondered.

"Too yellow." As a proper "Southern" lady.

"Too poofy." A Spanish dancer.

"Not poofy enough." Apparently, Equestria's equivalent of a 1950s teenager.

"Too frilly." A French noblewoman, complete with big white wig.

"Too…shiny." An…aerobics instructor? Chronicle was getting bewildered. Being a guy, fashion wasn't something he knew too well. All of the outfits had incorporated a saddle in its design, and Twilight's mane was done in an appropriate style, with her tail back to its usual shape.

"Now go on, my dear.", said Rarity approvingly as Twilight now wore a saddle bedecked with small jewels and a necklace bearing a large emerald, and its straps floated loose behind her with unicorn magic. The latter's mane was back to its normal straight style as well. "You were telling me where you're from."

Rarity grabbed the straps in her teeth and pulled. Twilight had risen to her hind legs, exposing a bracelet on a front hoof as part of the outfit as Rarity stood on her croup for support.

Twilight struggled to speak as she was strangled by the tightening of the straps. "I've…been…sent…from…Canterlot…to—"

Rarity let go in surprise. "Huh?" The two unicorn mares went in opposite directions; Rarity was first to get up. "Canterlot?! She rushed over to Twilight, who now had a still-drooling Spike and an neutral Chronicle behind her. "Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it." She then leaned close to Twilight, who backed up. "We're gonna be the best of friends, you and I." All of a sudden, her happy reverie broke when she took a good look at Twilight's new duds. Emeralds?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" Rarity then dashed off.

Twilight did the same thing, but in the opposite direction. "Quick! Before she decides to dye my coat a new color!" Chronicle grumbled before 'lifting' a still-lovestruck Spike onto his back and followed.

C—TS—S—R—C—TS—S—R—C—TS—S—R

Afterwards…

Twilight had discarded the fancy saddle, which Chronicle 'took' and placed into his "pocket of hammerspace", intending to return it to Rarity later. Spike was no longer on his back, having been 'taken' by his charge so that he was now riding her instead of him.

"Wasn't she wonderful?", Spike said dreamily, Rarity still in his mind.

"Focus, Casanova.", said Twilight. "What's next on the list?"

Chronicle took out the list, then said, "Music. It's the last one."

The two unicorns stopped short upon hearing a fanfare being whistled somewhere up ahead; the three hid in some bushes (for some reason) and poked their heads out to watch. They could see several birds perched in a tree, with a light yellow pegasus hovering in front of them and facing away from them. She had long, straight pink hair that curled gently upward at the ends, and a cutie mark of three pink butterflies. Chronicle noted that one of the birds was singing out of time. Apparently, the pegasus noticed it too and spoke up with a soft, gentle, and timid voice.

"Oh, my.", she said. This got Chronicle slightly aroused as he gave out a "wolf whistle", which Twilight noticed as she gave another funny look. "Um, stop, please, everyone." There was silence as she flew up to the bad singer. "Um, excuse me, sir. I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny tiny bit off." She then resumed her position and so did the rest of the birds. "Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three."

"Hello!", Twilight called, not only ending up startling the conductor, but scaring her entire vocal ensemble out of the tree.

"Oh!", the pegasus cried out as she turned to see Twilight and Chronicle, now out of the bushes.

"Oh, my. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music, and it's sounding beautiful." The yellow pegasus touched down, looking at Twilight sidelong or not at all, and fidgeted one hoof against the ground without saying anything. The purple unicorn stitched a big grin across her face and let her eyes flick nervously back and forth for a moment before breaking the silence. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." The pegasus still avoided eye contact. "What's your name?" The pegasus mumbled, but neither unicorn could hear her words. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Even softer the pegasus spoke. "Didn't quite catch that."

Chronicle made a low whistle from just how well his charge was doing. "Allow me.", he offered as he pushed Twilight aside and walked up to the pegasus and held up her face so that she was looking at him eye-to-eye. "I'm terribly sorry for my charge here. She doesn't know how to socialize. I'm Chronicle. Would you please be kind enough to say your name?" He stared straight into her beautiful eyes somewhat dreamily (but not as much as Spike with Rarity) as if trying to charm her or something. Unfortunately, he barely got a whisper from her before she reeled back and squeaked, looking at him and Twilight sidelong, as if trying to disappear behind the hoof-length curtain of her mane. However, he managed to get his answer. "So…your name is Fluttershy, huh?" The pegasus nodded in affirmation as the birds returned to the tree.

"Well, um, it looks like your birds are back.", Twilight cut in as she looked up to the tree. "So I guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work." There was another tiny squeak from Fluttershy and the purple unicorn backed off slowly. "Oo-kay."

"Again, I'm sorry for Twilight here, Fluttershy." Chronicle called as he watched Fluttershy just stand there, eyes downcast and one of them hidden behind her mane. As Chronicle turned around, she finally peeked toward him and Twilight, as well as Spike, who had at last emerged from the bushes.

"Well, that was easy.", the purple unicorn said to the dragon. All of a sudden, Fluttershy came to life with a gasp and a flutter of wings that scared off some of the birds.

"A baby dragon!", the pegasus gasped with some lung power behind her voice. She then zipped over to Spike, knocking Chronicle slightly to her right, and Twilight right over the dragon. "Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute!"

Spike turned to the sprawled-out Twilight and said, "Well, well, well!" He then turned back to Fluttershy with a smug look on his face as he folded his arms and raised his head with his eyes closed.

"Oh, my. He talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful, I…" She hovered into the air. "…I just don't even know what to say!"

Suddenly, Spike suddenly found himself 'grabbed' by Twilight's magic and hoisted onto her back. "Well, in that case, we better be going.", the unicorn said as she trotted past Fluttershy and Chronicle, and **both** of them followed her

"Wait! Wait! What's his name?"

"I'm Spike.", answered the dragon.

"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy. Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?" As Chronicle reeled back a bit so that he was both beside and in between the pegasus and his charge, the conversation grating on Twilight's nerves.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Absolutely everything." At this line, Twilight's eyes popped in surprise and she groaned loudly as the four went down the road.

"Well, I started out as a cute little purple-and-green egg…"

C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F

Hours later…

Spike was still talking as they walked through Ponyville proper. It was now late in the afternoon, and while Twilight impatiently glared ahead, even Chronicle was getting bored.

"…and that's the story of my whole entire life!", he finished. "Well, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?"

_Oh, brother._, Chronicle mentally grumbled.

"Oh, yes, please!", Fluttershy answered.

Just then, Twilight did a quick 180 and stopped in the same motion to face Fluttershy, prompting a yell from her passenger.

"I am so sorry.", she said. "How did we get here so fast?" Chronicle turned his face to see that they have arrived at a large, gnarled tree whose trunk and foliage were set with many windows, one of which had a hanging lantern. A balcony was visible halfway up, the front door displayed a picture of a lit candle, and a sign outside depicted an open book. In addition, a beehive hung from one branch.

_Oh. Looks like this is the library._, thought Chronicle. _But why is there a beehive?_

"This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep."

"No, I don't!", Spike protested, who was bucked off with a big phony grin.

The purple unicorn leaned to him and baby-talked, "Aw, wookit that. He's so sweepy, he can't even keep his wittle bawance."

The "sweepy" dragon glared at her stupidly grinning face before being swept up by Fluttershy. "Poor thing.", the pegasus said as she flew inside. "You simply must get him to bed."

Realizing that things are getting out of hoof, Twilight dashed in and quickly ejected her. "Yes, yes. We'll get right on that. Well, good night!" With that, she slammed the door, leaving a very befuddled Fluttershy on the step with Chronicle.

"…So…", Chronicle spoke up as Fluttershy turned to face him. "Uhh…would you like to…like to…" He didn't know what to say to a shy pony like her.

"Umm…well…", was all Fluttershy could say when Twilight opened the door and 'took' Chronicle by the tail.

"Sorry about this, but Chronicle's my bodyguard, so I need him with me.", she said.

"Come on! Other than the beehive, the library's perfectly sa—hey!"

Before he knew it, he was 'pulled' inside the library, which was currently pitch-black as the door was slammed closed again. Both he and Spike were rather put out at having their conversations broken off so abruptly. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness.

"Huh. Rude much?", Spike said.

"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time. I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time."

"If you ask me, you're trying to make us reclusive shut-ins like you.", Chronicle argued. "Do you really hate making friends? Did you really have to pull me in so harshly?"

"Do you even know what being a bodyguard is actually about?", his charge retorted. "You're supposed to be planning routes, researching on my contacts, pre-searching places I'm supposed to visit, searching anything I'll be riding for threats, and attentively escorting me on my day-to-day activities. During your time with me, you haven't done all of these as frequently as a real one should."

"Since when did you decide you should read up on bodyguards?"

"That's not important right now. Where's the light?"

"Like I know where it is."

Twilight's question was answered when it suddenly came on, revealing a large circular room whose walls were lined with bookshelves; other volumes were scattered around lofts set into the walls above them. And this reading room is filled with ponies, many of whom blew on noisemakers in their mouths, and at least five Chronicle recognized from Canterlot. Streamers hung from the upper reaches.

"SURPRISE!", they all cried out.

Confetti rained down over the group, and a party favor was blown out in front of one thoroughly confused, grumpy-looking violet unicorn who moaned wearily.

C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type)- Twilight and company walk into the darkness, which then lights up to reveal a party and the three react in shock.

C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F—C—TS—S—F

The surprise party was in full swing. Just then, popping out from nowhere was the pink pony who had ran out on the three earlier.

"Surprise!", she yelled in a cheerful, energetic, and slightly hyperactive-sounding tone. "Hi. I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!" She began to hop around. "Were you surprised? Were you, were you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Very surprised.", Twilight answered. "Libraries are supposed to be quiet."

Pinkie giggled as she leaned on Twilight, who shook her head. "That's silly. What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh! Booooring!"

"Well, parties should not take place in libraries, then.", Chronicle said as he then looked around.

"You see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all, "Hello," and I was all—" Pinkie gasped. "Remember?" Chronicle could see Carrot Top and Bon Bon, the two ponies who pointed them the way to Sweet Apple Acres. "You see, I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before, that means you're new." However, he could also see not one, not two, but **five** familiar faces. "'Cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony, in Ponyville."

He could see Heartstrings (the turquoise unicorn who had waved at Twilight) and Minuette talking with a grey pegasus with yellow eyes, yellow hair, and seven bubbles as a cutie mark. He could also see Twinkle talking to another unicorn who was almost colored like Amethyst Star, but seemed to be of a lighter tone and her cutie mark consisted of two dolphins.

He and Twilight made it to a refreshment table, with Spike having gotten lost in the crowd. As Pinkie kept going at top speed, poking her head into/out of view from all angles, his harge took a red bottle in her teeth and poured its contents into a waiting glass. There were other bottles on the table that were colored green.

"And if you're new, it meant you hadn't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, And if you don't have any friends, then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad.", Pinkie rambled on as he noticed that everypony was now looking at them. And that the grey pegasus's eyes were now 'crossed', making her look silly. "And I had an idea, and that's why I went—" Pinkie gasped again as Twilight put a straw into her glass and started to sip.

"I should throw a great big, ginormous, super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville!" At that statement, the four ponies Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike visited earlier that day quickly gathered around Pinkie. "See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!"

Just then, Twilight's eyes popped as big as dinner plates and she turned to face the group, her face suddenly beet-red with bulging cheeks and streaming eyes, probably due to the effects of her drink. Spike had now managed to join her.

"Are you all right, sugarcube?", Applejack asked. She was answered with the unicorn jumping up with steam whistling from her ears, her mane and tail briefly turning to flames (which got Chronicle sweating with nervousness), and zipping off at top speed. Pinkie's next words got a round of puzzled looks.

"Aww, she's so happy she's crying!", the pink earth pony said as they watched Twilight go upstairs.

"Actually, she could care less about making **any** friends at all.", voiced Chronicle, which got him a shocked look from Pinkie. "I should know." Pinkie returned to her usual expression a second later.

At the table, Spike picked up the bottle Twilight used earlier and regarded its label. "Hot sauce." Pinkie tipped over the bottle so that its contents dribbles over one of the cupcakes on the table.

"Mmmm…", she said as she then picked up the snack and ate it in one bite, earning her confused looks from Applejack and the others. "What? It's good!" As they smiled again at the sheer silliness of her appetite, Chronicle grumbled and decided to walk off.

"Where are you going?", Rainbow Dash asked as she turned to face him.

"Well, I know some of the ponies who are gathered here. They're from Canterlot like me, Spike, and Twilight." And with that, he walked through the crowd until he found Heartstrings, who was now with Golden Harvest and Bon Bon. He turned to the unicorn. "Hey there, Heartstrings. What brings you, Amethyst Star, Twinkle, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette to Ponyville all the way from Canterlot?"

"Oh. Hey there, Chronicle.", Heartstrings greeted. "Didn't I tell you to just call me Lyra?"

"Uhh…no, you haven't. But okay, I'll call you Lyra. You still trying to follow Twilight around?"

"Hmm…not right now. And as for why we're here, it's to celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration, of course."

"Oh. right."

"Also, they all plan to move here to Ponyville.", added Bon Bon.

Chronicle raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? Why?"

"We have our own reasons, and we figured that we wanted a change of scenery.", said Lyra. "Also, some of us came to live with some relatives or friends here, although I don't remember who are the ones with relatives, only that I'm not one of them."

"Oh. I see." With that, Chronicle left Lyra to continue conversing with her new friends. He then found Amethyst Star, who was conversing with the grey pegasus. Between them was a pale purple unicorn filly with yellow eyes and hair, her flank blank just like Apple Bloom. "Hey there, Amethyst Star."

The unicorn mare turned to face him. "Oh. Hey there, Chronicle. I'd like you to meet my sister Dinky." She indicated the filly, who gave a sweet smile. Amethyst then indicated the grey pegasus. "This is Derpy Hooves. She's our…umm…uhh…we'll be living with her."

"Hi.", greeted Derpy.

Chronicle noticed something in Amethyst's words. "Is there something I'm not supposed to know?"

A few hours later…

Chronicle had socialized with a lot of ponies during that party. There were a lot of names and faces he learned. Berry Punch. Sea Swirl (the unicorn with the twin dolphins cutie mark). Cherry Berry. Lightning Bolt. Medley. Shoeshine. Doctor Whooves (which he immediately noted with suspicion). Cloud Kicker. Noteworthy. Merry May. Rainbowshine. Daisy, Lily, and Rose. There were a few more, but he couldn't remember, although he'll know them when he sees them. Perhaps after his contract with Twilight Sparkle is over, he'll stick around at Ponyville, possibly get another contract started with another pony.

Speaking of which…

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP

Chronicle went over to the stairs Twilight took when he left the party, Spike accompanying him with a lampshade on his head. They made it to the door and the former 'opened' it. He first looked up at the loft in the dim-lit room, which had been outfitted as a bedroom. There were bookshelves lining one wall, but the rest of the space had been cleared to make room for a bed, a house plant, a small floor mat, and a table by the window with a bust of a unicorn on it. Two overlapping horseshoes and a cuckoo clock had been hung on the wall, and a telescope stood at the window. The floor-level section of the room (which Twilight's companions) had more bookshelves, a desk, and a staircase connecting it and the loft. He could see his charge on the bed, huddled on top of the blankets with a pillow on her head.

"Hey, Twilight!", called Spike. "Pinkie Pie's starting Pin the Tail on the Pony! Wanna play?"

"No!", the purple unicorn shouted. "All the ponies in this town are **crazy**! Do you know what time it is?"

"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun. You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" With a tilt of the shade, he sauntered out to rejoin it. As Chronicle's charge mimicked Spike's tone of voice with gibberish as he closed the door.

"Now how can you say that all the ponies in Ponyville are crazy, Twilight?! That's a very hasty generalization!", Chronicle cried out as he walked up the steps. "Sure, Pinkie and the four 'managers' we met are a bit off in their own ways, but the majority of Ponyville are pretty average, just merely of a lower class than Canterlot."

Twilight just ignored him as she lay down, holding the pillow over herself, and groaned. "Here I thought I'd have time to learn more about the Elements of Harmony. But, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!"

"Hey! You sound like you practically **hate** friendship! Don't you know that's one of the many factors that has built society?!" Chronicle was ignored again as his charge turned away from him. He then decided to walk up to the window so he could see what she was seeing. He looked up to see the full moon, whose craters and darkened surfaces form the silhouette of a mare's head…the Mare in the Moon. Twilight got up from bed, with the book they read much earlier that day close by. Just then, noticed that four stars seemed to be slowly drifting toward the moon.

"Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night.", Twilight quoted.

"Don't you mean 'nighttime eternal'?", Chronicle corrected, but was ignored (yet again).

"Oh, I hope the Princess was right. I hope it really is just an old pony tale."

Just then, the moment was interrupted by Spike, who still wore the lampshade. "Come on, guys! It's time to watch the sunrise!"

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Later, at Town Hall…

Everypony was gathered in silence, either at the main floor, the balconies above, or in the air in the case of the pegasi. The dais on which Rarity had worked on earlier today stood empty, as did the balcony directly above. A curtained archway was behind the balcony railing. As Twilight and Chronicle stood somewhere in the center, with Spike on the former's back, the profound silence was suddenly shattered when Pinkie Pie zipped up to them.

"Isn't this exciting?", she asked. "Are you excited? 'Cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited, well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went—" She gasped once again. "But I mean, really, who can top that?"

Pinkie was cut off as the birds Fluttershy rehearsed with earlier performed a short fanfare, and a spotlight picked out the vacant balcony. It then descended to the dais, where a khaki-colored earth pony mare stood. She wore gold-framed half-moon glasses, and a white shirt collar secured with a green ribbon tie. Her waved mane and tail were two light shades of gray, her eyes were bright blue, and her cutie mark was a scroll tied with a blue ribbon. Chronicle noted that this was the mayor.

"Fillies and gentle-colts!", she called, her voice with a tone of dignity that came with age and experience in office. "As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" There were short cheers from all save for Twilight and her companions. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"

As the mayor spoke, Twilight glanced up to the moon and Chronicle followed her gaze. "And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land…" To their surprise and shock, the four drifting stars disappeared into its perimeter and—at the same time—the dark unicorn-head shape vanished from the surface. "…the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day…the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria…" Nearly everypony on the main floor were feeling jubilant throng; the pegasi were flying about, the unicorns and earth ponies were shaking in anticipation…and he saw Heartstrings jumping in excitement.

At the balcony where the birds were, Fluttershy turned to them. "Ready?"

"…Princess Celestia!"

At the balcony, Rarity grabbed a nearby rope in her teeth and hauled on it. The curtains parted as a spotlight hit the balcony and another fanfare plays. However, there was no one and nothing in it. "Huh?" Following were general confused murmurs.

"This can't be good.", murmured Chronicle.

"Remain calm, everypony.", the Mayor tried to console the populace as Rarity went past the curtains to find the Princess. "There must be a reasonable explanation."

Pinkie jumped in place and said, "Ooh, ooh! I love guessing games! Is she hiding?"

Rarity finished looking and turned to the audience with an answer, "She's gone!" There was a gargantuan gasp from all present.

"Ooh, she's good.", Pinkie said to her "friends". Just then, her good cheer went bye-bye in a split second as she voiced a panicked cry while glancing up toward the balcony. Twinkling clouds of deep blue-violet vapor have begun to envelop the balcony as another gasp came from everypony.

"Oh, no.", Twilight gasped softly as the the thickening clouds were swept away, revealing the blue-armored, winged unicorn (alicorn) figure of Nightmare Moon behind them. Her mane and tail were made of the same blue-violet vapor, and her coat was actually an even darker blue-black hue than in the picture from the book Twilight and Chronicle read. The edge of her helmet framed scornful, light blue-green eyes with catlike pupils, and her towering size was accentuated by the spread of her wings. Her hooves were protected by blue shoes that reached up to cover the front of her forelegs. A white crescent moon appeared both on her chest armor plate, and against a dark purple background as her cutie mark. "Nightmare Moon!"

Spike moaned in shock and fainted, toppling off Twilight's back. Nightmare's voice broadcast an unsettling mixture of suavity, contempt, and barely concealed menace in roughly equal parts. "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces." Chronicle looked around to see the terror-stricken crowd. He could see Carrot Top and Twinkle stare in fear with a couple of other ponies.

He could also see poor Apple Bloom hiding under a table with a white unicorn and orange pegasus of her age. Little did he know that destiny bound those three just as it will soon bind his charge with a certain group of ponies, with him pulled along for the ride… (2)

"What did you do with our Princess?!", Rainbow Dash demanded, boiling-mad as she started into a flying charge, only to be held back by Applejack, who grabbed her tail with her teeth.

"Whoa there, nelly!", the earth pony said.

Nightmare chuckled richly, "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

Pinkie jumped cheerfully, somehow now next to Applejack. "Ooh, ooh! More guessing games! Um…Hokey Smokes! How about…Queen Meanie? No…Black Snooty! Black Snooty!" Her next guess was muffled by a cupcake from Applejack.

_Definitely not Queen Minnie._, Chronicle thought, mishearing Pinkie's words. _I'd know if it were…_

Nightmare then leaned over Fluttershy, scaring her and scattering the birds. "Does my crown no longer count, now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" Next, she got into Rarity's face, cradling it in a lock of her intangible mane. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did!", Twilight declared, catching Nightmare's attention. Spike was still laid out on the floor. "And I know who you are! You're the Mare in the Moon!"

"Nightmare Moon!", Chronicle finished for his charge, and the whole crowd gasped.

"Well, well, well.", snickered Nightmare. "Somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

Twilight lost her nerve as she then said, "You're here to…to…" She then swallowed hard.

Nightmare let out a growing chuckle. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!" Lightning then cracked through the upper reaches of the pavilion and the material of her mane and tail billowed over the entire room as she laughed exultantly. Below, Twilight gritted her teeth out of nervous fear, and Chronicle made a serious face, lowering his body as if ready to fight.

**To be continued…**

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM (3)

(1) For Bon Bon's 'regular' voice, I'll assume it's the one she used in the episode _Green Isn't Your Color_.  
(2) Yeah, I decided to note the early bird cameo of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  
(3) As for the special breaks I have there, the letters represent the names of the (main/prominent) characters that appear in the series.

nightelf37: This was originally written from FIMFiction . net, which you can check by searching for my username in that site. See ya on Third!


	2. Chapter 2: Elements of Harmony

nightelf37: Okay. Time to get the next part started.

?: So…can I come in now?

nightelf37: Yes you can. But you **may** not. Readers, while most of the story (and the fic in general) will take place in Chronicle's P.O.V., I will put scenes where he isn't around, only for him to arrive later. Normally, music cannot be implemented well in fanfiction because of the obvious differences between seeing & hearing and reading. But because of Pinkie Pie's…nature, I'll have to implement (canon) songs. And now for the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

?: Will you be using that thing over and over?

nightelf37: Yes. I won't be bothering on variety. Now out! Here's a little more note on the text format of this fic:

{word} - action should be visualized as if you were watching it on a TV (or computer) screen

_word_ - words are being sung (A/N: The FIMFiction one would have the musical note symbol, but they can't be put in, so it will have to share the same format as mental thoughts and flashbacks)

_word_ - For indicating song titles and if the song ends

nightelf37: If the format of other words is confusing you, check back on the previous chapter.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

**Chapter 2: Elements of Harmony**

At Ponyville's Town Hall…

Nightmare Moon continued to laugh exultantly as her mane continued to cause a storm in the pavilion. Nopony dared move. After all, with the storm Nightmare was conjuring, she could easily take down any who opposed her. However, the Mayor wasn't about to just stand there and do nothing.

"Seize her!", she declared to three pegasus guards (the ones like the pair that pulled Twilight's chariot). "Only she knows where the Princess is!"

As these three guards began to close in on Nightmare, Chronicle's horn began to glow. As it did, energy seemed to form around the horn as it then seemed to take in a shape similar to Nightmare's.

"Stand back, you foals!", Nightmare bellowed as her eyes burnt white, producing more lightning that hurled the guards backwards, and making another evil laugh. Immediately after the guards were repelled, Chronicle leaped into the air, his "magic horn blade" aimed at Nightmare, who suddenly wrapped her cosmic mane and tail around herself and vanished. The blue-violet mist went around the blue unicorn—who landed on the balcony—then made a beeline for the open front door, snaking through the panicked crowd and the dazed guards.

Meanwhile, Applejack had kept her teeth locked on Rainbow Dash's tail ever since, who then finally snapped it loose and charged after Nightmare. "Come back here!", Chronicle heard the pegasus mare cry out. Quickly, he turned to the panicked populace and leaped down from the balcony, landing on the ground floor without much trouble. Knowing a battle was required to defeat Nightmare, he ran over to the closest pony and asked them if they could join him in stopping Nightmare. Each time, he was met with refusal of varying degrees.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Uh-uh!"

"I may look silly, but even I know that's foolhardy."

"Sorry, but I can't."

After failing to 'recruit' anyone, he then turned around to where Twilight Sparkle and Spike were, only to find them gone. Quickly, he ran off to where he assumed they would be; the library.

C—TS—S—A—RD—NM—C—TS—S—A—RD—NM

In the library…

Spike was asleep in a basket, then came to with a start. "We gotta stop Nightmare!", he said in a half-dazed tone, then he was out like a light once more. A blanket was draped over him and Twilight eased close to look him over.

"You've been up all night, Spike.", she said to him as she turned away. "You are a baby dragon, after all." She then turned off the lights and hurried over to the main room, where she began searching the library for answers. Books were scattered all over the floor, around a large table (which had a wooden horse-head bust standing on a pedestal), and at the feet of a ladder propped against the wall.

"Elements, Elements, Elements…", she was saying, then let out a loud, frustrated groan while levitating book after book and letting them fall. "How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?!" All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash flew into her face, good and angry.

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony?", the pegasus demanded, slowly backing Twilight to a shelf. "And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a spy?" All of a sudden, Chronicle came in between the two, his "magic horn blade" ready, having managed to come in right after the pegasus entered the library. "Whoa!" Rainbow Dash backed away in surprise.

"Make another move against her! I dare you!", said the blue unicorn. Before he could be challenged, Rainbow was yanked back by the tail…by Applejack, who quickly let go and got a dirty look for her trouble. She, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy had went to the library right after Chronicle, who had no idea he had been followed, not that they were.

"Simmer down, sally.", the orange earth pony said to the cyan pegasus. "She ain't no spy." The five ponies then moved closer to Twilight and Chronicle, whose horn resumed its normal shape as he "sheathed" it. "But they sure know what's goin' on—don't you?"

The two unicorns looked as the five ponies surrounded them. Chronicle turned to his charge, who then dropped her gaze and said, "I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her." She then looked out a window to see the moon. "But I don't know what they are, where to find them. I don't even know what they do!"

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.", they heard Pinkie say. Everyone turned to see her inspecting a book on a shelf at the other side of the room. She was then plowed aside by Twilight.

"How did you find that?!", the purple unicorn asked.

Pinkie hopped across room and replied in a singsong manner, "It was under 'E'!"

Twilight shot her a funny look. "Oh."

"This place seriously needs a card catalog.", Chronicle grumbled as his charge 'took out' the book. Its binding was red, with gold bands on the spine and a matching unicorn head on the cover, surrounded by six rhombus shapes.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty." As Twilight continued to read, Chronicle bothered to look out the window, and saw Nightmare's vapor form listening in. It then zipped away just as he noticed it.

_Uh oh. Looks like she'll be expecting us._

"The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said the last known location of the five Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now…"

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

"…the Everfree Forest?!", six voices cried out fearfully. Chronicle hadn't cried out with them and simply groaned.

The seven ponies were now on a road leading into a very large, very overgrown, and very foreboding wilderness. Chronicle had been here a few times before while under previous contracts before his contract with Twilight Sparkle. They all regarded it with silent trepidation for a long moment before Pinkie spoke up, cheerful as ever.

"Whee! Let's go!", she said as she then trotted ahead.

"Not so fast!", Twilight said sternly, making the pink earth pony stop. "Look. I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own."

Chronicle cleared his throat to catch her attention. "Excuse me, Twilight?", he told her. "I'm your bodyguard, so wherever you go, I go. Also, I've been to this place before."

"You have?", Twilight asked.

"Yes. After all, you're not my first charge."

"Then I'm going with just you then. I wouldn't want anypony else risking their safety."

"No can do, sugarcube.", Applejack cut in in objection. "We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone." Twilight flinched a bit on hearing "friend" as she and the others began to trot ahead. "We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple."

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity made an "Mmm-hmm!" in agreement.

"Especially if there's candy apples in there!", added Pinkie, earning her a funny look from the remaining two unicorns. "What? Those things are good!" She then followed the rest.

Twilight now found herself alone with Chronicle—with the other five already on their way into the forest.

"Well, I'm glad they're coming.", the only stallion in the group said. "Safety in numbers after all." His charge then sighed resignedly as the two then started in after the others.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

A while later…

The seven ponies were now walking in a line. Chronicle was at the lead, Twilight Sparkle right behind him, Rarity behind her, followed by Applejack, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie Pie, with Rainbow Dash bringing up the rear. The sole stallion felt a little uneasy as they walked. Out of all of them, he was the only male, as well as the only one with experience in combat (as far as he knew). He was a talented fighter, although he preferred the close-range type, which one wouldn't expect from a unicorn as they didn't excel in the physical department.

"So…apart from Chronicle, none of you have been in here before?", Twilight decided to break the silence.

Rarity shuddered and answered, "Heavens, no! Just look at it. It's dreadful!"

"And it ain't natural.", added Applejack. "Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria."

"What's that supposed to mean?", asked Twilight as they stopped at the edge of a cliff.

"Nopony knows.", said Rainbow Dash as she ominously emerged from the shadows. "You know why?"

"Rainbow, quit it!", Applejack scolded, but was ignored.

"'Cause everypony who's ever come in has never…come…out!"

By this point, she had advanced so far as to be face to face with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity (who were side by side), and she leapt up menacingly on the last word. However, that didn't end up being the real scare; **that** came when the edge of the cliff crumbled away, taking all five non-winged ponies screaming with it. The two pegasi managed to get airborne just in time. "Fluttershy, quick!" The cyan pegasus quickly dove in.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!", said the yellow pegasus as she followed.

As the others kept going down with the rockslide, Rainbow hoisted Pinkie clear and Fluttershy snapped her teeth onto Rarity's tail to 'put on the brakes'. Applejack stopped herself by biting down on an exposed root. Chronicle's horn glowed once again as he then turned to face the ground. He then managed to raise his forelegs (which began to glow as well), and then brought them down, sinking them into the earth as he dragged himself into a stop. This left Twilight alone to skid toward the edge of a very long drop, and winded up with her hind legs dangling over the precipice. Quickly, Applejack sized up the situation, then let go of her root to slide along.

"Hold on!", she said as Chronicle followed shortly. "I'm a-comin'!" Reaching the edge, she then grabbed Twilight's forelegs in hers. Somehow. Chronicle had no idea how this was working.

_How is my charge able to hold on to the cliff without…you know… Not that I'm not grateful for it, though._

"Chronicle, help!", Twilight called out. "Applejack! What do I do?" There was a long, tense pause as Applejack squeezed one eye shut from the strain on her muscles, then aimed her open one skyward for a moment before turning both of them toward the hanging unicorn. Chronicle also managed to glance above.

"Let go.", Applejack answered.

"Are you crazy?!"

"No, I ain't. I promise you'll be safe. "

"That's not true!"

"Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe."

Twilight tuned to her bodyguard, who was a bit too far for him to help her up. "Chronicle?"

"You can trust her.", he said. "You got friends waiting." He then gave a reassuring wink, then mouthed. "Trust our pegasi friends." Although in his charge's frightened state, he wasn't sure if she caught that.

Twilight's popping eyes betrayed the fight between her panicked brain and the instinct telling her to trust the pony who was holding her at the edge of oblivion. Making her decision, she released her grip and plunged, screaming over the side—for a second or two; Her fall was stopped short by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who have caught her.

"Phew.", Twilight sighed in relief.

"What did I tell you?", Chronicle called from above as his horn glowed, ready for a spell. As he promptly disappeared with a flash—having used a teleportation spell—Applejack was already leaping down protruding ledges in the cliff. He then re-materialized in between Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were already down on the ground below, looking up at Twilight and the two pegasi. A sudden weight shift caused the unicorn to nearly slip out of their grasp with a yell, before the two pegasi compensated for it and lowered her steadily to _terra firma_.

"Sorry, girls.", apologized Fluttershy as they then reached the ground. "I'm not used to holding anything more than a bunny or two." Just then, Chronicle decided to turn away—and glimpsed the wisp that was Nightmare Moon. He saw it whisk away on a certain direction…which turned out to be the only way forward. As he then heard a roar (although it was faint because of the distance), he gulped in fear, knowing there will be another danger to face shortly.

_We're gonna have to begin trusting each other more if we're gonna make it through this._, Chronicle thought as Applejack made it down with the rest. _Not that any of us are going shifty-eye on anypony._

C—TS—**A**—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—**A**—RD—R—F—PP

Shortly…

The seven ponies were on the road again, clustered this time instead of a line. Rainbow Dash flew about, bragging excitedly on their previous cliffhanger incident.

"And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe…whoosh! Me and Fluttershy looped the loop around, and wham!", she said as she then landed next to Twilight, who was in the lead. "Caught you right in the nick of time."

"Yes, Rainbow, I was there.", Twilight said irritatingly, then gave a faint smile. "And I'm very grateful. But we gotta—" She stopped with a gasp when they encountered something. It had a lion body, bat wings and ears, and a scorpion tail. "A manticore!" The manticore then roared once more. "We've gotta get past him!"

The creature leaped at Rarity for a swipe of its paw, but she ducked and—to Chronicle's surprise—countered with a buck to the face that knocked it back.

"Take that, you ruffian!", the white unicorn said. The manticore's response was a full-volume roar directly into her face, leaving her mane a frizzed-out shambles due to the moisture in its breath. "My hair!" A low growl touched off a little cry from her and sent her into a retreat past Fluttershy, who stood watching.

"Wait!", the pegasus said as the the manticore gave chase. Just then, it was stopped by Applejack, who had jumped onto its head.

"Yee-haa!", the earth pony cried out as the manticore started trying to buck her off. "Get along, little doggie!"

"Wait!"

One last good heave managed to send the earth pony flying. "Whooooaaa!" As she then tumbled past the hovering Rainbow Dash, she said, "All yours, partner."

The cyan pegasus saluted and replied, "I'm on it!" She then zoomed past Fluttershy, who was still calling for them to wait. In seconds, she enveloped the foe in a striped twister similar to the Rainblow-Dry maneuver she used earlier in the day. A lash of the scorpion tail knocked her out of it and sent her towards the others with a yell.

"Rainbow!", Twilight cried out as the pegasus landed in front of them.

"My turn!", Chronicle said as he then charged.

"Wait!", Fluttershy's cries once again fell on deaf ears as the blue unicorn rushed at the manticore. The beast swung a paw at him, but he was the suddenly a blur as he was then at the other side of the paw, his "magic horn blade" on the ready, much to the surprise of the mares. He had used a teleportation spell, but not like the one he used earlier. This one allowed him to zip instantly across short distances and make him look like he was actually moving there in a fast rate. He called this spell the flash-step.

As the manticore continued to swing at him, he countered with his own blade, smacking the beast in places, but holding back enough so as not to make any cuts, which would be easy for him to do. Just then, as he attacked, he saw the manticore's left forepaw and noticed something. However, this cost him a second—a second he could've used to dodge the manticore's scorpion tail, which brought itself onto him. Thankfully, it hadn't decided to hit him with the stinger (he wasn't about to find out if it was poisonous or not), but the force of the blow sent him back to Twilight and the others. As he stumbled, he managed to land on his feet.

"There's a thorn in its paw!", he said as he turned back to the manticore.

"What does that have to do with anything, dear?", asked Rarity, her mane back to normal, presumably by magic.

"It might be why the manticore's in such a bad mood."

"And you think removing the thorn will calm it down?", Rainbow Dash asked, clearly thinking it wasn't gonna work.

"It's worth a shot. See if you can distract him while I try to grab it."

To his surprise, nopony argued with him as they all braced themselves with a snort. The manticore set itself up for round five, and Chronicle and company started into a charge. Just before the could reach the manticore, from the sidelines, Fluttershy threw herself in their path.

"WAAAIIIT!", she cried out, and both sides stood down. She then looked behind herself, then ahead, and walked toward the beast, who raised one meaty paw, ready to disembowel her on the spot. Chronicle stood ready, his horn glowing. Should the manticore attack, he would flash-step to Fluttershy, grab her, then flash-step back, then fight.

"There's a thorn in its paw.", he advised the yellow pegasus, who then paused upon hearing that sentence. "Could you…you know…" He was answered with a nod of the head.

"Shhh, it's okay.", she said tenderly to the manticore as she went over and sniffed at the paw that had the thorn, the other one raised for a strike which never came. The manticore then uncertainly un-clenched its paw to reveal the thorn. "Oh, you poor, poor little baby."

"Little?!", Rainbow Dash wondered incredulously.

"Now this might hurt for just a second." She eased her head toward the thorn. There was a sudden pluck, and the huge mouth let go with a powerful roar at point-blank range.

"**Fluttershy!**", the mares cried out. Much to their surprise (Chronicle somehow half-expected this), the yellow pegasus wasn't being torn limb from limb. Rather, she was being cradled and licked by the suddenly pacified monster.

"Aw, you're just a little old baby kitty, aren't you? Yes, you are. Yes, you are." During this line, the rest shifted from befuddled gapes to warm smiles, and moved past the manticore without any trouble. Twilight and Chronicle hung back for a moment so Fluttershy could catch up, whose mane was still swept up into a thick pink cowlick.

"How did you know about the thorn?", Twilight asked Fluttershy.

"I saw it, remember?", Chronicle interceded. "I have a sharp eye when it comes to seeing things. I'm actually less of a bodyguard and more of an escorter for a journey like this one."

"Well, how were you sure the manticore wasn't gonna attack even after the thorn was removed?"

"I didn't.", said the pegasus. "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." Twilight pondered for a second before giving a faint smile. "And…to tell the truth…I didn't even know there was a thorn until Chronicle told me."

"Well, I gotta…" Chronicle couldn't say 'hand it to you', considering they didn't have hands, but 'hoof it to you' didn't sound appropriate either. He glanced back at where the thorn lay, only to see it dissipate into a wisp that was Nightmare and fly off. "…gotta…well…anyway…" He turned back to his company. "That was either very brave of you… or very **stupid**." Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise from this response. "Not to mention dangerous! You could've gotten yourself killed!" His voice was now filled with concern and worry. "While I'm thankful that wasn't the case this time, please don't do that again, okay?"

Looking into his eyes, Fluttershy gave a sweet smile and a nod before she, Chronicle, and Twilight then broke into a gallop to catch up with the rest.

C—TS—A—RD—R—**F**—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—**F**—PP

Later…

The seven ponies were moving through yet another area of the forest (although one was not in sight at the moment, and Fluttershy's mane had returned to its normal shape) They were in a boggy/swampy area of the forest as the ground squished with every step.

Rarity shuddered and said, "My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Just after she said that, the trees have thickened to the point that almost no light got through them. "Well, I didn't mean that literally."

As they walked, Chronicle could feel a slight disturbance in his legs. It felt like magical energy. He bothered looking down and saw the wisp that was Nightmare Moon snaking right underneath them. He considered telling the others, but decided not to; they were close to breaking down into a state of panic and to tell that the enemy was among them didn't sound like a great idea.

"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn't even know it!", Twilight grumbled.

_Little do they know that there's another obstacle coming 'round soon._, Chronicle thought as his companions muttered and complained.

"Oh, wait.", said Applejack as she raised a hoof. "I think I stepped in somethin'." Then, there was a scream from Fluttershy, but the earth pony paid no mind and moved on, a bit exasperated. "It's just mud." All of a sudden, a gruesome face on the tree trunk appeared before her, with a gaping, toothy maw forming from an opening in the bark and two glaring knothole eyes. Applejack bolted with a yell while the others stared wide-eyed at the leering, snarling visages that have suddenly appeared on all the trees around them. Five screams tore through the air.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

(A/N: Now imagine the _Digimon Adventure_ eyecatch in the link below.)

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=lDaPTRGMZz4)

Eyecatch (video-type)

{Eight cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: a six-pointed pink star, a couple of green flames, an orange circle depicting an open book inside, a trio of apples, a red-yellow-blue striped lightning bolt coming from a white cloud, three rhombus-shaped blue gems, a trio of butterflies, and a trio of balloons.}

{The eight cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting two rows of seven ponies and one dragon. The top row depicts (from left to right) Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. The bottom row depicts Rarity, Twilight Sparkle (with Spike on her back), Chronicle, and Fluttershy. The show's logo shows up on the bottom right.}

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

While Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, and even Rainbow clustered together screaming for their lives, Chronicle was on the alert and quickly 'unsheathed' his "magic horn blade", ready to oppose these "monsters".

"These don't scare me.", he said, not a trace of fear in his words. "I'll protect you all!" It'll take more than a few creepy faces to spook him. All of a sudden, there was a peal of laughter, which stopped the screams. Everypony turned to see Pinkie Pie facing one of the horrid faces on the trees. "Huh?" The pink earth pony was giggling at the face and making a few goofy ones of her own in response.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?!", Twilight cried out. "Run!"

"Hold on a second…", Chronicle realized as he got a closer look on the trees. "These scary faces are just that; scary!"

"Are you sure?!" His charge was skeptical and didn't seem to believe it, letting her fear get the best of her.

Before he could say any more, he heard music come out of nowhere. He wasn't sure if they were playing out of somewhere or if it's all in his head (and perhaps also to those the song is being directed to). The prominent instrument was a mandolin.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=WODiCCJfp94)

_Now Playing: Laughter song (a.k.a. Face Your Fears; Giggle at the Ghostie)_

"Oh, girls, don't you see?", Pinkie said with a laugh as she marked time with her hooves to the music and the area brightened a bit.

_When I was a little filly and the sun was going down_

"Tell me she's not.", Twilight groaned as the pink earth pony poked her head from above. Somehow.

_The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown_

"She is.", answered Rarity as Pinkie hopped around her friends.

_I'd hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw_

_Why is she singing now, of all times?_, Chronicle thought.

_But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all_

"Then what is?", Rainbow Dash asked.

_She said, "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears_

Pinkie then hopped to a tree.

_You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear."_

The music then stopped as she gave a simple "Ha, ha, ha!"—which 'banished' the face, leaving an otherwise-normal twisted old tree before her. Everyone gasped in surprise.

_Wow._, Chronicle mentally gasped at this…strange power Pinkie Pie seemed to have. _Just how does she know and do this?_ The music returned as drums joined in.

_So giggle at the ghostly, guffaw at the grossly_

Everyone else, starting with the two pegasi, began to follow Pinkie's example; laughing at the menacing apparitions, which began to wink out.

_Crack up at the creepy, whoop it up with the weepy_

Rarity and Applejack joined in the laughter, with the latter jumping off of Pinkie as she sang.

_Chortle at the kooky, snortle at the spooky_

Twilight got a little push from Pinkie to help her find the spirit. Eventually, she laughed as well. Only Chronicle didn't join in, although he did crack up a smile at how ridiculous this 'trap' of Nightmare Moon's was.

The music gradually stopped as Pinkie went rapid-fire with these words, "And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone, and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another think coming, and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna…" There was one more bout of the giggles. The music then resumed.

_Laugh_

As Pinkie held out the last note, the remaining faces disappeared…and the music finally ended.

_End Song_

And with that, the six mares flopped onto their backs for a good long laugh as the area brightened.

_Whew_, Chronicle thought, still smiling. _We seriously needed a breather there._ "Come on, girls.", he then said. "Let's keep moving."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—**PP**—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—**PP**

Later…

Chronicle led the bouncing Pinkie Pie, as well as Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy out of the woods…and into the bank of a raging river. He immediately paused and cried out "Stop!" Pinkie immediately landed on his back in a stop, and he felt everypony else bump into them one by one. As he got Pinkie off of him, the six mares poked their heads out from behind him for a good look at the broad torrent.

"How are we gonna cross this?", Pinkie asked.

"I know someone who can help.", said Chronicle. Just then, there was a distant moan and wail. "Huh?"

The seven ponies took cover in a clump of bushes and peeked out to see a long, purple, scaly tail thrashing about in the river, causing the raging waves in it. They then looked to their left and saw that the one who was moaning was an immense serpent with skinny arms and long, dark blond hair, mustache, and eyebrows. The right half of the mustache had been raggedly cut off by something.

"Auugh, not again.", the blue unicorn complained.

"Huh?", the six mares asked.

"I've met this river serpent before. His name is Steven Magnet." (1)

"What a world! What a world!", the serpent, Steven Magnet, spoke in an effeminate male voice.

"I encountered him a few times whenever I had to escort somepony across this deep river. In a sense, he serves as a bridge. He's the help I was talking about." One by one, the ponies crept out of their cover and went over to him. "Steven.", he called, catching the serpent's attention. "What's got you in such a fit this time?"

"Oh, Chronicle, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off!" He leaned in to show the seven the damage. "And now, I look simply horrid!" He then flopped full length into the river, and launched into a hissy fit. The resulting water would have soaked all the ponies were it not for Chronicle 'putting up' a barrier, which stopped them from getting wet as the water washed off the wall of magic. There was a couple of assorted groans from everyone.

_Oh, brother. Nightmare Moon strikes again._, Chronicle grumbled as he dismissed the barrier.

"Oh, gimme a break.", complained Rainbow Dash.

"That's what all the fuss is about?", asked Applejack.

"Yes. Yes it is.", voiced the sole stallion in the group. "He cares a lot for his appearance. I believe one pony would be able to relate." He shot a glance at Rarity.

"Why, of course.", the white unicorn answered as she trotted forward to Steven. "How can you two be so insensitive? Oh, just look at him." She proceeded to stroke his snout. "Such lovely luminescent scales."

Steven sniffled, "I know!"

"And your expertly coiffed mane."

The serpent righted himself up and patted it down. "Oh, I know, I know!"

"Your fabulous manicure."

Steven gasped. "It's so true!"

"All ruined without your beautiful mustache."

Steven proceeded to sob. "It's true, I'm hideous!"

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!", Rarity then said resolutely as she narrowed her eyes. She then whipped her head forward, clamping her teeth around one of the creature's scales, and yanked it loose.

"Ow!", screamed Steven. "What did you do that for?" He wasn't answered as Rarity lifted the scale's razor-sharp point upward.

"Rarity, what are you—", Twilight was about to say when a slash came, which shocked everyone. And Steven Magnet fell over in a dead faint as his upper body fell forward to the ground.

As it turned out, what was slashed was…Rarity's own tail, of which only a ragged nub remained. The white unicorn then tossed the scale aside—which Chronicle decided to 'salvage'—and used her horn to levitate the cut swath. The curly purple was then 'attached' to the ruined half of Steven's mustache. The serpent came to and straightened up with a jubilant laugh.

"My mustache!", he cried out. "How wonderful!"

"You look smashing.", Rarity told him.

"Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail!", Twilight said with concern.

The white unicorn turned to face the others, "Oh…it's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." Twilight smiled gently, having grasped the sacrifice Rarity had made.

"So would the mustache.", Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight.

"Okay. Now that your fashion problem is taken care of, Steven, may we cross the river?", requested Chronicle as he noticed the river finally calm down.

"Why, of course!", said the serpent as he coiled his body so that he now served as a line of stepping stones. One by one, the mares hopped across his body. As for Chronicle, he decided to show off a bit. He cast a spell on his legs and then jumped to the water. Instead of entering it with a splash, he landed on it—much to his friends' surprise—and started walking on it like he were on land. Once everypony was on the other side, Steven raised his head and said, "It's a pleasure to be of service to you, Chronicle."

"Thanks." With that, Steven dove into the water and was out of sight. As they all then continued, Twilight had a question.

"How did you even meet up and make friends with someone like him?"

"It was sometime before I became **your** bodyguard. In such a dangerous place like this, making a friend with a native can be a great help. I could tell you all about my "career story" prior to my employment to you, but we still gotta find the Elements of Harmony. And I'm sure Nightmare Moon's after them too. We gotta hurry!"

C—TS—A—RD—**R**—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—**R**—F—PP

A short while later…

The seven ponies were on the road again, Twilight Sparkle in the lead, with Chronicle and the others just behind. Just then, the former looked ahead.

"There it is!". she said. Ahead was a tumbled ruin of a castle that stood in a small clearing just ahead—situated on the far side of a mist-choked abyss, with the posts of a collapsed bridge still embedded in the ground on both sides. "The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony. We made it!" They all put their hooves in high gear.

"Twilight!", Chronicle called out as his horn glowed once more. "Wait for us!"

"We're almost there!"

"I said WAIT!" All of a sudden, just before his charge could reach the bridge, he teleported right into her face. She wasn't able to stop in time and collided into him, knocking him over to where the bridge was, and he fell out of sight, back first. As it turns out, the bridge was broken, and he had attempted to stop her from falling off, only to have that happen to him instead.

"Chronicle!"

In a flash of light, he appeared right behind Twilight—falling upwards, then down on the ground on his belly. In addition to changing locations via teleportation, he can also alter his orientation, which can prove useful when falling great distances. By 'flipping' himself, the momentum from his fall is directed upwards and gravity would counter that, sparing him a serious fall that could've seriously hurt him.

"Oww…", he groaned as he got up.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?", Rainbow Dash joked to his charge.

"I only fell off once.", Twilight replied.

"True, but you were still involved in the other one that just happened."

"You got that right.". Chronicle agreed snarkily. "**Not** one of my brightest ideas in mind."

"Now what?", Pinkie asked with a gasp as they looked at the broken bridge, then everypony turned to face Chronicle.

The sole stallion noticed, then realized what they were thinking. "Sorry, but I haven't figured out how to teleport others with me. And as for that **other** kind I used, while I can do that, it can only reach as far as I can jump." He then turned back to the gap ahead. "And I definitely can't jump all the way to the other side."

"Allow me!", offered Rainbow Dash as she gave her wings a twitch and lifted off.

"Oh, right."

She proceeded to go down into the mist, and resurfaced with the snapped bridge ropes in her teeth. As she hauled them up onto the far end and got one of them tied down, an echoing female voice caused her to stop short.

"Rainbow…", the voice called, causing the cyan pegasus to drop the other rope with a gasp. From the other side of the cliff, Chronicle could see Nightmare's wisp form drift.

"Who's there?", Rainbow Dash called out.

"Rainbow…" The mist started to thicken around the pegasus as she punched at the air.

"I ain't scared of you! Show yourself!"

"We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria."

"Who?"

"Why, you, of course."

"Really?" Rainbow seemed enthusiastic as she caught herself. "I mean…oh, yeah! Me! Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would you? 'Cause I've been trying to get into that group for, like, ever!"

"No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us."

Out from the mist emerged three pegasi, galloping into view with uncanny speed. They skidded to a stop, resolving into two purple-maned stallions and a blue-maned mare, all wearing full-body jumpsuits and yellow goggles—similar to those used by the Wonderbolts. However, the bodies were purple and the heads/hooves black, with yellow lightning bolts marking the boundaries. Each outfit displayed an emblem consisting of a winged pony skull where a cutie mark would normally appear. The mare's coat and wings were light gray, while those of the stallions were a darker shade.

"The Shadowbolts!", said the mare, revealing to have been the voice from earlier. "We are the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria." The mare then leaned in close. "But first…we need a captain." The young daredevil's eyes widened, a big smile creasing her face, as the Shadowblt flew slow circles around her. "The most magnificent…"

"Yep."

"…swiftest…"

"Yes."

"…bravest flyer in all the land."

"Yes. Ha-ha. It's all true."

"We need…" The mare leaned in to whisper in Rainbow's ear. "…you."

The cyan pegasus leaped up. "Woo-hoo! Sign me up!" She then moved to get the loose rope. "Just let me tie this bridge real quick, and then we have a deal."

Unfortunately, the Shadowbolt mare had other plans and zipped across to stop Rainbow Dash, speaking in a far more menacing tone. "NO! It's them or us!" The cyan pegasus recoiled slightly from their sudden change in mood.

On the other side, everyone else was watching. "Rainbow!", Twilight called out. "What's taking so long?" Then they saw the Shadowbolts.

"Oh, no.", Chronicle groaned. "Minions of Nightmare Moon, I presume. Why else would they be here to stop Rainbow Dash?"

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted. This caught the attention of the Shadowbolt mare, whose eyes blazed yellow behind her goggles, causing the mist in the area to roll in faster than you can say 'Sweet Celestia'. "Don't listen to them!" Unfortunately, it was too late for a response. The mist has prevented her from hearing her friends.

_Uh oh._, grumbled the sole stallion. _Should she abandon us, I'll take it from here; teleport over and tie the bridge in her place. Unless the rope is then dropped or the bridge destroyed in some way, then we'll have a problem. Fluttershy simply doesn't have the strength to carry any of us, and I don't have the power to lift and throw them over to the other side. Although doing both is a possibility._

"Well?", they then heard the Shadowbolt mare say. Apparently, while Rainbow couldn't hear her friends, the same didn't go for the other way around. There was a long pause that came afterwards before an answer was heard.

"You.", they heard Rainbow answer.

_Uh oh. Should've seen this coming._, grumbled Chronicle.

"Thank you…for the offer, I mean. But I'm afraid I have to say no."

_Oh. Looks like it won't come to that after all._

Back at the other side, Rainbow Dash tied up the rope to the bridge and with one last malevolent glare, the Shadowbolts disappeared in three puffs of blue-violet smoke that came together and slinked away. The mist then parted to reveal the repaired bridge as Rainbow came over. The other mares cheered as everyone then walked across the bridge.

"See? I'd never leave my friends hanging.", the cyan pegasus told Twilight. After this demonstration, the purple unicorn seemed to understand the point a lot easier.

The seven ponies then approached the front entrance of the ruined castle. Before entering, Chronicle went ahead and scanned the place as a precaution (and as a tip from Twilight about bodyguarding). Once the coast was clear, everyone followed and stepped in. Before them was an apparatus consisting of five round stone tablets mounted at the ends of radial shafts, with a larger orb at the center. The entire rig was heavily overgrown with moss and vines. Some of the tablets in view each had a gem-shaped carving that stood out in relief on the surface.

"Whoa…come on, Twilight.", said Applejack. "Isn't this what you've been waitin' for?"

"The Elements of Harmony. We've found them!" One by one, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew up and took one tablet each, lowering them to the floor. "Careful…careful…"

Pinkie counted the stones. "One, two, three, four…there's only five."

"Where's the sixth?", wondered Rainbow.

Twilight knelt to the floor and sat, "The book said, 'When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.'"

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?", asked Applejack.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen." Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and brought her horn's powers to bear.

Applejack proceeded to lead the others away. "Come on now, y'all. She needs to concentrate."

"I'm staying.", said Chronicle, refusing to leave. "Who knows if Nightmare Moon or any of her forces might show up and interrupt?"

"Suit yourself." And with that, he's left alone in the chamber, watching over his charge. A few seconds later, he saw Nightmare's wisp form slip in. While he knew he should act, he didn't know what to do. He could only watch as it then enveloped the five round stones before his charge as she stepped up her efforts. As the mist then formed a whirlwind that lifted the tablets off the floor, he decided to intervene.

"The Elements!", he warned his charge. Twilight opened her eyes and cut her powers off with a cry upon seeing the cyclone.

"TWILIGHT! CHRONICLE!", the others called out from outside.

"What do we do?!", the sole stallion asked. The tornado began to grow in size and power, reaching nearly to what remained of the ceiling.

He was answered with his charge diving into the storm. He followed a split second later. And not a moment too soon; it took both of them just as the others came in. Fear and confusion began to set in as they then began to run around in panic. Only Applejack stood still in worry.

"Twilight! Where are you?", she cried out.

"Look!", Rarity yelled. Everypony turned to see her gazing intently out a window at a tower in another part of the castle. White light poured from all the windows.

"Come on!" And with that, they all red-lined it out to help their friends. (2)

C—TS—A—**RD**—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—**RD**—R—F—PP

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - Twilight sits in front of the elements as Nightmare begins to take them up. She jumps in, Chronicle following, and they all disappear just as the rest come over. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

In that part of the castle…

A ball of brilliant light appeared on the floor and exploded in a blast of smoke. When it clears, out came Twilight and Chronicle, coughing from the smoke. When the two cleared their heads and lungs, they looked up and saw…Nightmare Moon standing on a crumbling dais, chuckling nastily as the five Element tablets floated in the grip of her mane and tail.

As lighting cracked out from her mane, Twilight did something no one in their right mind would do; lower her head and paw the ground to work up steam for a charge. Chronicle quickly followed suit as Nightmare set the Elements down.

"You're kidding.", she chuckled. "You're kidding, right?"

Neither of the two unicorns answered as their horns glowed and they both barreled straight toward the dais, with Chronicle 'unsheathing' his "magic horn blade". Nightmare started into her own charge—leaving the Elements behind—but an instant before the collision, Twilight disappeared with a flash. Chronicle, however, had continued in his charge and his "blade" met with Nightmare's horn and the two struggled, the former ending up with his forelegs raised and being pushed back a bit.

While the blue unicorn was strong, Nightmare was stronger as she then shoved him off of her, sending him sliding back a few feet. She then noticed that Twilight was missing, but before she could wonder where she was, Chronicle charged again, jumped, and swung his "horn blade" at Nightmare, forcing her to counter with her own horn. As the two continued to clash, there was a faint line of magic power that seemed to form a line between their horns and 'connected' them. Nightmare didn't notice it, but energy seemed to be flowing from her and into Chronicle.

Erstwhile, Twilight had materialized on the dais, moaning woozily from having used teleportation for the first time, having learnt it from Chronicle. She quickly came to and dipped her head toward the Elements. "Just one spark.", she said as her horn began to blaze. "Come on, come on…"

Behind her, Chronicle was now dodging Nightmare's attacks, who was now using magic in her assault, the idea having crossed her mind after a while. He flash-stepped about to dodge, slashed back with his "horn blade" and shot star-shaped blasts. Nightmare blocked these blasts with ease using her cosmic mane and dodged the unicorn's "blade". Chronicle hadn't expected Twilight to teleport at the last second, but after seeing her with the Elements, he decided to stall for time. Besides, he was liking this battle.

All of a sudden, Nightmare paused in her attacks as she then glimpsed at the reflection in Chronicle's eyes…and saw Twilight doing something with the Elements. She quickly pushed off the blue unicorn, turned herself into a stellar tornado, and whipped herself onto the dais. The magic then kicked back hard on Twilight, throwing her across the floor as Chronicle quickly recovered and ran to his charge's side.

"No! No!", cried out Nightmare.

Twilight seemed to smile, thinking she had the advantage—but then the Elements' lights went out and she gasped in pure shock. "But…where's the sixth Element?"

Nightmare then laughed full throttle and reared up. She then stomped on the floor and the stones shattered into gravel. Twilight could only stare helplessly, but Chronicle still stood ready to fight.

"You little foals!", bellowed Nightmare. "Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your Princess—or your sun! The night will last forever!" Her mane and tail became a swirling mass above her head as she laughed once again.

_For a second, I thought she'd say, 'Me! The mistress of all evil!'._, Chronicle thought, then retorted aloud, "It's not over until the last spell is cast!" He then charged up his "horn blade" and galloped toward Nightmare Moon once more. Amidst the shattered stones, he flash-stepped about, fighting with more resolve than before. Nightmare countered all of his attacks with ease, not bothering to take him down as she thought victory was assured and that he was doing this out of desperation. To an extent, she was right; Chronicle had no idea whether defeating Nightmare Moon would stop her eternal night, but he had to try. As he did, he also made scratches across the ground and they began to glow with his magic.

As he continued to clash, the look of utter defeat in Twilight's eyes (in spite of what her bodyguard was doing for her) changed to bewilderment when she heard the muffled voices of the others coming from the general direction of a stairway leading up into the room. As their shadows appeared on the walls in due time, she let out a deep gasp as her pupils and irises narrowed, then widened, a tiny flicker of light plays across the center. She came to a realization.

Meanwhile, Chronicle was pushed off the dais and he landed six paces away from his charge as she then turned around, her confidence restored. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?", she declared. "Well, you're wrong—because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!"

_Wait, what?_, gasped the blue unicorn as their friends were now right behind him. The stone shards at Nightmare's hooves then began to glow and floated free of the ground.

"What?", gasped Nightmare.

Twilight began to speak. "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of honesty!" Some of the shards then started to circle the orange earth pony. As she lectured, Nightmare attempted to move and attack, only to find out that she somehow couldn't.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of kindness!" Some of the shards then start to orbit the yellow pegasus, even if she reeled back a bit. Nightmare looked down to see a "magic circle" at her feet glowing bright blue, then turned to look at Chronicle, whose horn glowed with magic; he had cast a binding spell, which took the form of the circle he created on the ground.

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of laughter!" The pink earth pony made a huge grin as pieces of the shattered stones gravitated to her. Nightmare attempted to break free of Chronicle's binding spell, but it was somehow too strong.

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of generosity!" The white unicorn eyed the fragments that now circled her. "And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of loyalty!" The last of the pieces now circled the cyan pegasus. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!"

As it turned out, the faint line between Chronicle and Nightmare during their fight was another spell the former had cast. It was a "power transfer" spell, which transfers magic power between him and a target; he could either take or give. And he had taken some of Nightmare Moon's magic to restore his own and drain her enough so that she wouldn't be able to escape. Still, the spell was taxing for him to maintain and was slowly draining him.

Effectively disabled, Nightmare was unable to do anything but speak. "You still don't have the sixth Element!", she said. "The spark didn't work!"

"But it did.", Twilight countered. "A different kind of spark." She then turned to the others. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you. To see you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me…" Her eyes began to form tears. "…when I realized that you all…" She then faced Nightmare once more. "…are my friends!" (3)

"Any moment now…", Chronicle muttered, struggling slightly less as he then thought, _Aren't we friends too?_ The reason why he maintained the spell is because he felt that the sixth Element was about to show up. Just then, shafts of intense white light pierced the gloom from above, coming from a sixth stone tablet that had materialized overhead. It bore its own gem relief and descended to stop above Twilight's head. Nightmare was the only one to shield her eyes. Chronicle had guessed right.

"You see, Nightmare Moon.", Twilight continued. "When those Elements are ignited by the…the spark that resides in the heart of us all…" Chronicle could now see that Nightmare was suddenly scared. "…it creates the sixth Element. The Element of magic!" The light from the floating Element flared out to encompass Twilight and the others, and Chronicle could feel its power surge from behind him. He didn't dare turn to look at what was happening and focused on keeping Nightmare pinned. All of a sudden, through his peripheral vision, he saw a broad rainbow pass right over him and descend right for the dark winged unicorn. Hoping to see what would happen, he broke off the binding spell as the rainbow swooped down on Nightmare.

"NOOOOO!", the dark winged unicorn screamed as the light spiraled around her and concentrated into an impossibly small twister. "NOOOOO!"

Chronicle then turned around to look at his friends…and saw them floating serenely in the white light, "standing" on their hind legs, wearing glowing adornments of some kind. Twilight possessed a gold tiara topped by a jewel shaped like the six-pointed star in her cutie mark. The rest wore gold necklaces, each set with a jewel in the shape of its wearer's cutie mark, though Rainbow Dash's was only of the lightning bolt. He wasn't able to notice more as Twilight opened her eyes, which have also begun to glow white.

He turned away and shielded his eyes as he felt the power of the Elements sear through his coat, but in a good way. Eventually, the light faded and the six ponies with the Elements lay sprawled on the floor, leaving Chronicle as the only one who was conscious. He didn't check whether Nightmare had survived the "attack" or not as he turned to the six. It was there that he got a good look on what he presumed were the Elements of Harmony. He noticed that Rarity's tail had grown back, and that her necklace's jewel was a purple diamond-shape. Fluttershy's was a pink butterfly, Pinkie's was a cyan balloon, Rainbow's was a red lightning bolt, and Applejack's was an orange apple.

"Wow.", he managed to say. "That's a lot of power." Suddenly, he received a mental message. He reached into his "pocket of hammerspace" and took out a coin-shaped object that looked like his cutie mark. He then 'moved' it into his ear and spoke. "Reporting. … Huh? … You sure? … Don't you think that's— … Oh right, silly me. … Well, okay then. …Over and out." He then returned the device to "hammerspace" and 'took out' a couple other items from it. One of them was a rectangular device that looked like a screen. The others were six floating orbs that shimmered into invisibility. "Oh well. Better get this over with…"

C—**TS**—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—**TS**—A—RD—R—F—PP

(A/N: Just to make sure everyone gets this, Chronicle did **not** do anything inappropriate with them! If you read his description in my profile, I think you should have an idea on what the items are.)

About an hour later…

Once Chronicle was done with what he had to do, he walked away from them and moved to where he was when he had pinned Nightmare Moon. Eventually, his friends gradually came around.

Rainbow Dash was the first to groan, "Oww, my head!"

"Everypony okay?", asked Applejack.

"Oh, thank goodness!", Rarity cried out. Everypony turned to see that her tail had grown back, which Chronicle had seen earlier.

"Why, Rarity, it's so lovely.", said Fluttershy.

"I know!" The white unicorn waved her tail lovingly. "I'll never part with it again!"

"No, your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark."

Rarity looked at it. "Uh?...ooh… So does yours!

Fluttershy looked at hers and gasped happily at it. As the others began to take notice of their new adornments, Chronicle couldn't help but feel a bit peeved. After all, he had been with them and have struggled about as much as they have, perhaps even more. _Do the Elements have a double standard of some kind?_

"Look at mine, look at mine!", Pinkie Pie was saying as she hopped over to Applejack.

"Aw, yeah!", cried out Rainbow Dash.

_Oh wait. There are only six elements._, Chronicle thought. _And there were seven of us. But what element could I have represented? Honesty? No, I'm not above making lies. Kindness? I have a liking for battle, and that's not nice. Laughter? Definitely not. Generosity? Nope. Loyalty? I'm no "in it for the money" kind of guy, but I'm no blind faithful. Magic? Twilight has better potential, and battling isn't the answer to everything. But still…shouldn't I have had some form of reward?_

"Gee, Twilight.", said Applejack as the unicorn looked at the tiara on her head. "I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey. But I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship."

_And yet I'm like a tag-along._

Just then, a new light washed over the area as a gentle female voice spoke up. "Indeed you do.", it replied to Applejack.

The sun began to rise over the hills beyond the cracked window. From it, a blaze of light separated and floated slowly through the glass. It settled to the floor in front of the group and disappeared with one last flare. In its place stood a tall, white winged unicorn mare whose impossibly long, sparkly mane and tail were striped in cyan, turquiose, azure, and purple; they waved gently in a non-existent breeze. She stood twice as tall as a typical pony, her eyes were magenta, she wore a gold tiara, necklace, and shoes; the the first two were set with a violet, diamond-shaped gem. Her cutie mark depicted the shining sun.

All but Twilight and Chronicle knelt silently before her, the latter merely bowed his head and raised a foreleg so that it was in front of his body and perpendicular to his other legs whereas the former stayed upright with a happy gasp.

"Princess Celestia!", Twilight cried out as she dashed over to the window, where the two nuzzled each other affectionately.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.", the princess replied. "I knew you could do it."

"But…you told me it was all an old pony tale."

"I told you that you needed to make some friends—nothing more."

"To be exact…", Chronicle spoke up as he stood straight. "You told her to 'stop reading those dusty old books', and you meant exactly that but she perceived it as an 'I don't believe you'. …Although you had that in mind, didn't you, Princess?"

Celestia gave a short nod. "Rather perceptive of you, Chronicle." The blue unicorn smiled sheepishly as the others stood up again and the princess turned to her student. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her." Twilight began to understand and so did Chronicle. "But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart." She shared a look with the other five. "Now if only another will as well."

Everypony turned to one other part of the room, which was strewn with the smoking remains of Nightmare Moon's armor. There lay a second winged unicorn mare lying unconscious amid the debris. She was considerably smaller than Celestia (but was still taller than the average pony), she had a blue-violet coat, lighter blue hair, and the same crescent-moon cutie mark as Nightmare. She wore a navy blue necklace depicting the crescent moon and a tiara of the same color behind her horn. Blue shoes covered her hooves, and her eyelids were shadowed in the same color as her mane.

"Princess Luna.", Celestia called out. The mare awoke with a gasp, revealing eyes that were the same shade of blue-green as Nightmare, but without the catlike pupil shape. She lifted her head as Celestia walked over to her, also revealing a small, navy-blue tiara behind her horn. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this." Celestia then sat down in front of her. "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."

"Sister?", the seven other ponies said.

"Oh, I think I get it.", Chronicle added as he and Twilight arrived at the same conclusion; Celestia and Luna were the two sisters in the legend, before the latter turned evil.

"Will you accept my friendship?", asked Celestia as she stood up.

Luna turned her face away as the suspense started to get the better of Twilight and company. They leaned in expectantly, with Pinkie going a little too far as she toppled to the floor. "Whoa!", she gasped.

Luna then made her move; she stood upright and nuzzled against her sister's chest as tears ran from both of their eyes. She is slightly more than half as tall as Celestia, her scared, quavering voice sounding closer to those of the seven ponies who have just taken down her Nightmare Moon form. "I'm so sorry!", she sobbed. "I missed you so much, big sister."

"I've missed you too.", Celestia replied.

Just then, somepony blew their nose, ruining the moment. Everypony turned to see that it was from Pinkie Pie, who had produced a handkerchief and was sobbing profusely into it. Waterfalls of tears cascaded from both eyes for a moment before she perked up to her usual happy demeanor. "Hey! You know what this calls for?"

"What?", Chronicle dared ask.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—PL

Back in Ponyville…

"A party!"

The village's meadowland, was fully decked out for a shindig and confetti and streamers rain down as Pinkie Pie and many other cheering locals raced through the meadow. A team of pegasus guards pulled a chariot bearing Celestia and Luna—on the ground, rather than in the air. The wheels had a sunburst design worked into the spokes and a crescent moon on the axle hub.

Spike bulled his way through the crowd to give Twilight the biggest hug he can manage, given his size, and all made obeisance to the sisters once they left the chariot.

Prior to their return to Ponyville, Twilight and the other five mares—who have then been 'knighted' as the "Keepers of the Elements of Harmony"—have removed their jewelry and given them to Princess Celestia for safekeeping. The Sun Princess smiled gently as everypony bowed, while Luna seemed a bit uneasy before the crowd. Two pegasus fillies flew up to place a wreath of red and white roses around her neck and she directs an uncertain, slightly teary-eyed little smile at Celestia, not entirely understanding how she could be forgiven for everything she did, but accepting it all the same.

While all this happened Twilight and Chronicle now stood at a short distance and the former looked very downcast while the latter merely sighed. Celestia noticed her student's look and walked over to her.

"Why so glum, my faithful student?", she asked. "Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?"

"That's just it." Twilight then turned to the saddened others and Spike. "Just when I learn how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them."

"Spike, take a note, please." Upon hearing his name, as he stood between Applejack and Fluttershy, he took out a quill and scroll in hand and began to write. The Sun Princess began to dictate, "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria." The others began to brighten considerably. "She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville."

The uncomprehending look on said unicorn's face gave way to a grateful smile as the other five mobbed her, shouting congratulations. "Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia!", she cried out. "I'll study harder than ever before!"

There were cheers all around as confetti and streamers rained down. However, there was still one more slightly disappointed face; Chronicle. As he walked away, Celestia noticed him leave.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—PL

During the party, but elsewhere away from it…

Chronicle was walking alone, just about to leave Ponyville and enter the road leading back to Canterlot when he suddenly felt a presence. He then turned around and was suddenly face-to-face with Princess Celestia.

"Now, Chronicle.", she asked. "Why the sad face?"

"Well, your contract binding me to your student is over, Your Highness, so I don't have a reason to stay. Although, I might return to Ponyville someday.", he said. "Also, I feel a bit peeved that I hadn't received any award of any kind whereas the others did with their necklaces and tiara, not that I desire one. I just feel like I was merely 'along for the ride'."

"Well, I believe destiny has more in store for you, dear Chronicle."

"Maybe. While I did—and perhaps do—appreciate Twilight's company as well as her friends, I'm a pony who needs to work for a living. And while I can do odd jobs for bits, I can't really live on them alone, if you know what I mean."

The Sun Princess nodded in reply as she then thought of something. "Hmm…is it permitted to start up another contract with you right after the previous one has ended?"

Chronicle put a hoof to his chin. "Now that you mention it…I guess it is. If not, perhaps your status could change that."

Celestia gave a short chuckle. "Well then, here's your new contract." She then conjured a scroll and 'gave' it to Chronicle, who opened it and read through it. After a full minute, he 'took out' an 'inked' quill from his "pocket of hammerspace", and signed the contract with an expression of satisfaction. (4)

"You got yourself a deal. You can count on me." The contract then disappeared as he 'returned' his quill.

"So that mean's you're gonna stay?!", a voice came. He then felt that somepony was on his back. He turned his head to see that it was Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie?!", he gasped as he shook her off. "How long have you been listening?!"

"I heard the whole thing!"

"My, you have a contract with the princess herself?!", another familiar voice came. "It seems that there's more to you than meets the eye."

He looked behind Celestia to see Rarity, who was the one who had spoken. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and even his former charge Twilight Sparkle were there as well and they all walked over to him, Celestia, and Pinkie.

"Wha…wh…" He turned to the Sun Princess, then gave a smile. He then turned to the purple unicorn. "Well, Twilight. Looks like I'm staying with you for a while longer." He was then mobbed by the six mares and as they cheered for him, and his smile widened, becoming more sincere. _Heh. I was gonna make do with watching from a distance, but…thanks to my new contract, I think I can do my mission better. And besides, I could use some more…permanent friends._

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Yeah, Chronicle knowing the river serpent is something I added just for the sake of giving him a name.  
(2) While the second intermission didn't take place at this time, I thought I'd mix it up a bit for the sake of this fic.  
(3) Yup. My first fight scenes. I didn't think that Nightmare Moon would just stand there while Twilight made her speech, so I had the binding spell done. Yeah, I know. Chronicle is probably showing too much power and too many skills so quickly, but that won't happen again in the future, not until a battle takes place.  
(4) I know squat about contracts, but I'll assume they work differently in Equestria.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	3. Bonus 1: Opening Theme 1

A boy dressed in a Barong Tagalog walks in with a sheet of paper and makes his way to a pulpit and stood behind it.

"What am I doing here again? Oh right. Readers, this is nightelf37, writer of this fanfic. This is what I call an AMV in script form. I plan to 'write' the opening theme of the show (with my OC Chronicle implemented of course)."

The mysterious visitor from the previous chapters suddenly pops out from behind the boy.

"Hey! What's up?!"

"…Fine, Pinkie Pie. You now have the go."

"Thanks!" She then turns to the readers. "Hey there, readers! This idea nightelf37 has might be crazy, but there's a first for everything, you know. Now, sit back and enjoy."

_Now Playing: My Little Pony Theme Song_

{scene opens to reveal the "Twinkling Balloon" in front of the daytime sky, with Twilight Sparkle, Chronicle, and Spike as its passengers}

_Twilight Sparkle: __My Little Pony, My Little Pony_

{Twilight looks around from the balloon as it descends into the clouds}

_Other singers: __Ahh ahh ahh ahhh…_

{cloud obscures balloon from view, which Rainbow Dash then plows through, breaking it and revealing Ponyville}

_Other singers: __(My Little Pony)_

{Rainbow makes a loop-de-loop as the 'camera' zooms in and enters tunnel vision, and exits it to show the balloon touching down}

_Twilight Sparkle: __I used to wonder what friendship could be_

{Twilight jumps off the balloon just before it lands and trots forward; once the balloon does land, Chronicle jumps off immediately after his charge as Spike climbs out}

_Other singers: __(My Little Pony)_

{Spike gets off of the balloon and runs to catch up with the two unicorns; close of Twilight's face as she lights up}

_Twilight Sparkle: __Until you all shared its magic with me_

{As Chronicle catches up, camera turns around to show their friends ahead: (left to right) Pinkie Pie hops in place, Rarity makes a charming pose, Applejack looks ahead with one foreleg crossed over the other, Fluttershy simply looks cute as she looks sidelong at the camera, and Rainbow Dash flies in and stops just above the four}

_Rainbow Dash: __Big adventure_

{In a sky backdrop, she flies in, then zooms off, leaving a rainbow trail, which covers the screen and serves as a screen transition}

_Pinkie Pie: __Tons of fun_

{In a bakery of some kind, she blows a yellow balloon, which expands until it fills the whole screen as a transition, then bursts}

_Rarity: __A beautiful heart_

{Inside her store, she flips her hair as she stares right into the camera; a twinkle emerges from her eye and serves as the screen transition}

_Applejack: __Faithful and strong_

{Outside at the farm, she raises her hind legs and bucks a tree, sending down a bunch of apples, which serves as the screen transition}

_Fluttershy: __Sharing kindness_

{Just outside a house, she nudges an apple towards a white bunny; a swarm of butterflies fills the screen from below and serve as the screen transitiion}

_Chronicle: __It's an easy feat_

{A distance from the library, he raises his hind legs and moves them to the left so that he now faces the 'camera', which then zooms out for a bit to reveal an empty area to his left}

_Twilight Sparkle: __And magic makes it all complete_

{Twilight teleports into that spot and the camera zooms out more to reveal the rest of the gang; to the right are Applejack and Fluttershy, to the left are Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and above those two is Rainbow Dash; as the other five mares edge closer to Twilight, Chronicle lowers his head and body and looks ready to charge as he gives a grin}

_Twilight Sparkle: __You have..._

_All: __...my little ponies_

{Spike pops out in front with a scroll and breathes green fire into it, sending the letter to the far-off city in the mountains; Canterlot}

_Twilight Sparkle: __Do you know you're all my very best…_

_All: __…friends?_

{cut to a throne room where Princess Celestia sits, two black unicorn guards a ways below her seat; the smoke that was Spike's letter flies over to the Princess, stops in front of her, and returns to its original form; Celestia then opens it with her magic and a smile; the scroll possesses a picture depicting Twilight and company posed together, with Chronicle positioned in front and sitting close to Rarity and Fluttershy}

{cut to the show's title, which has an added yellow box above reading "Shisno Chronicles", then switches to the text "Made for Television by **Lauren Faust**", then to the text (in the same format as before) "Fanfic written by **nightelf37**"; fade to black}

_End Song_

A movie projector turns off, revealing to have played the opening theme.

"I know I know some of the areas already, but I decided not to mention them just because."

"See ya on Third!", Pinkie Pie says. "Now what does that mean?"


	4. Chapter 6: Boast Busters

nightelf37: You're probably wondering why I didn't proceed with "The Ticket Master", right?

Pinkie Pie: Yeah!

nightelf37: Quiet down, Pinkie. Well, you see, I was hoping to do all this in chronological order by using a certain graph [that I can't link to because this site won't allow links] as a guide. I might have problems trying to piece it all together, so I thought I'd still include the 'episode' numbers by order of release, even though that will become very confusing for most of you readers. So that means _Hearth's Warming Eve_ will be considered (by me) as Season 2 Episode 11, although I might place it differently depending on the other episodes.

Pinkie: Okay, but why this first? Why not the episode with that meanie griffon Gilda?

nightelf37: Well, I have two reasons for that. One, I'd like to focus on Twilight (as well as reveal a bit more about Chronicle). Two, between the two, I have a preference for Trixie over Gilda. Now if you'll excuse me…

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

nightelf37: Also, I'd like to implement a 'screen mode'—indicated like this (**[screen mode]**)—where I'll describe events as if they were happening on a screen. And as such, it might end up as a script, although **only** on those parts so as not to violate this site's rules.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

**Chapter 6: Boast Busters**

In the Books and Branches Library…

"Come on, Twilight. You can do it!" Spike was concentrating intently on something and facing Twilight Sparkle, who was preparing to cast a spell of sorts. They were in the upper-story room, where their beds were.

"Okay.", said the unicorn. "Here goes." She squeezed her eyes shut and fired up her horn; as its glow built up, the radiance also started to emerge around Spike's nose and chin. In one quick pop, he has grown a bushy black mustache.

"Ha-ha! You did it!" Spike then turned to a checklist set up on an easel and ticked off an entry. "Growing magic. That's number twenty-five. Twenty-five different types of tricks, and counting." His 'mistress' allowed herself an embarrassed little smile and blush as her assistant looked himself over in a nearby mirror. "And I think this is the best trick so far. Hel-lo, Rarity!" As he stroked his mustache, his eyes then popped. "What's that? Aw, it's nothin', just my awesome mustache." He added a chuckle.

"Sorry, Romeo. As attractive and enticing as you look, it's just for practice and it's gotta go." One again, her horn glowed.

"Wait!" Unfortunately, hands over the facial hair did nothing to stop the magic from erasing the mustache. "Aw, rats."

Twilight laughed softly at that, then said, "Wait. Where's Chronicle?"

TS—S—TS—S—TS—S—TS—S—TS—S

**[screen mode]**

{Cut to a dark expanse. Ripples appear from the right as if the 'ground' were calm water recently disturbed. 'Camera' pans right to reveal Chronicle in the center of the source of the ripples. His eyes are closed as he was deep in thought.}

Chronicle: Hmm…It's been three days since I've accepted the new contract. I wonder how things will go? Isolation doesn't seem to be an option as friendship is definitely a powerful source of magic. Besides, even though not all of them do, my colleagues have been bonding with the natives they've been assigned to watch over, so why shouldn't I?

{All of a sudden, the ripples become irregular and the area begins to shake. A female voice could be heard.}

?: Chronicle.

Chronicle: Huh?

{Screen wavers as it transitions to a view of the bed Twilight slept on in "Mare In The Moon".}

**[end screen mode]**

Chronicle was snoozing on his bed, which was foot to foot with Twilight's, lying on his belly. He was also drooling, which irked his waker to no end. Twilight decided to shake a bit rougher.

"Chronicle!", she called again, but the stallion refused to wake, although he did shake a bit. She turned to her assistant. "Spike?"

"Okay.", the baby dragon conceded as he procured a pin and then poked him in the croup. This got him wide awake as he jolted up from the bed with a start.

"Aaagh!" As Chronicle fell onto the bed again, he turned sheepishly to his charge. "Sorry again, Twilight." He let out a yawn.

"And I thought you'd be over it by now after being my bodyguard for a month.", his charge replied.

"Yeah, I really should try to go to sleep early next time. I think our trip to the Everfree Forest has left my body clock out of whack."

"But none of us had such problems."

"I bet the Elements had something to do with that." Chronicle got off the bed as Twilight proceeded to 'fix it up'. "In any case, I'll try to break out of my oversleeping habit. I lost a small number of contracts that way, although I have **never**, ever slept on the job."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Later that day…

The three of them were walking down a busy Ponyville street.

"Twenty-five, Twilight.", Spike was saying. "Twenty-five different kinds of tricks, and counting. I thought unicorns were only supposed to have a little magic that matches their special talents."

As they did that, Chronicle greeted each of the ponies whom they have bypassed. He greeted a pale amber pegasus pony with a mussed up pink-and-pale raspberry hair, rose eyes, and three tornadoes as a cutie mark by the name Dizzy Twister. He greeted a brown earth pony with medium gray hair, cyan eyes, and a grayish-olive hat, but couldn't remember his name at the moment and was also curious as to why he had no cutie mark.

"Hey there, Dizzy Twister.", he said to the pegasus, then turned to the earth pony. "Hey there." He also greeted Heartstrings (by the name Lyra) and Golden Harvest as they bypassed them as well. (1)

"True, for ponies whose talents are for things like cooking or singing or math.", Twilight replied to her assistant. "But what if a unicorn's special talent **is** magic?"

"Like you, Twilight. And you know a ton of magic."

Twilight gave a laugh. "Oh, Spike, stop. I'm sure there are lots of ponies right here in Ponyville that know just as much magic as me." She glanced at a pegasus pony who bypassed them. She had an arctic blue coat, baby blue eyes, dark teal hair, and a raining cloud cutie mark.

"Good day to you, Medley.", Chronicle greeted the pegasus, who raised a hoof in return of the greeting.

"Are you kiddin'?", Spike replied to his 'boss' as they and Chronicle slowed to a stop. "I don't think there's another unicorn in all of Equestria with your kind of ability, Twilight."

"I kinda have to agree with him on that. Of all the unicorn ponies I've had contracts with, you're the only one who knows more magic than I do, Twilight. And I am rather diverse. So far, you're the only one who exceeds me in that. You can learn just about anything, while combat and other miscellaneous necessities that can help with it are all I can learn. Well, either that, or my previous charges never had the need to show off more than they needed to."

"Gangway!", a voice came. Chronicle noted whoever spoke didn't seem to be bright as the three turned to see two young young unicorn colts in full gallop.

The shorter and chubbier of the two was bucktoothed, had a light blue-green coat, messy yellow-brown hair, and a pair of scissors as his cutie mark. The other, taller and thinner, had a yellow-tan coat, birdcatcher spots near his eyes, and equally unkempt light green hair that are slightly longer than his counterpart. His cutie mark was a snail. Both of them had beady black eyes and the shorter of the two sported thick brown eyebrows as well.

"Comin' through!", the taller colt added as they barreled past with enough speed to blow the two older unicorns' hair sideways while Spike found himself being bulldozed along on the shorter colt's head.

"Snips! Snails! What's going on?", he asked them. They answered by skidding to a stop, throwing him clear.

"What, haven't you heard?", the taller colt, Snails, said as Spike crashed somewhere. "There is a new unicorn in town!"

"Yeah!", agreed the shorter colt, Snips, as he bounced on his hooves as if he was high with sugar. "They say that she's got more magical powers than any other unicorn ever!"

As Snips spoke, Twilight and Chronicle approached the two colts as Spike did the same as he rubbed his head. "Oh, really?", the stallion asked.

"No way.", scoffed the baby dragon. "That honor goes to Twilight here." As he raised an arm to her, she smiled and blushed. "And I'd say Chronicle comes to a close second." He was earned a harsh look from the stallion.

"Where is this unicorn?"

"Oh, she's in the town square.", Snails answered. "Come on!" He then galloped off.

"Yeah! Come on!", Snips agreed as he followed with an excited yell as Twilight, Chroniclle, and Spike raced after him a moment later.

C—TS—S—S—S—C—TS—S—S—S

Shortly…

There was a wagon trailer set up in front of the town square pavilion, presenting its side to the sizable crowd gathered before it. Chronicle could head a female voice ringing out over the scene, sounding very dramatic and over the top, as he, Twilight, Spike made their way to the front. Twilight's friends were at the front of the crowd.

"Come one, come all!", the voice said. "Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

During this line, the trailer reconfigured itself. One, the side wall flipped down to become a stage backed by a dark blue curtain, and two wings folded out to extend its length. Two, the ends swung out, exposing three brass horns mounted on each. Three, the roof popped up and several bits of overhead scenery extended over the stage: rocket, planet and stars, spiral, stars, and magic wand. Then, a blast of glittering blue smoke went off on the stage.

Once it cleared, a bright blue mare stood smiling at the crowd. Her hair was two lighter shades of blue, and she wore a blue-violet wizard's hat and cape covered with stars. The cape was secured by a jeweled brooch at her throat. Her eyes were a vivid shade of violet, and her cutie mark was a star-tipped wand spreading stardust, revealed when her cape blew backward. Trixie has just made her grand arrival, prompting awed murmurs from the crowd.

"Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!", she then said as she raised herself so that she stood on her hind legs. Fireworks then erupted from the stage, but Rarity seemed to be far from impressed.

"My, my, my.", she said. "What boasting."

"Come on.", Spike replied. "Nopony's as magical as Twi…" He then nearly had a fit upon realizing that he was speaking to the pony he wanted to impress with his mustache earlier. "Twi…Twi…oh!" He then blushed a bit, as he cleared his throat. "H-Hey, Rarity, I, uh…mustache!" he then ran off in a panic as his two companions took his place.

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?", Twilight asked.

"Nothin' at all…", Applejack said as she eyed Trixie, who conjured up a bouquet of flowers. "'ceptin' when someone goes around showin' it off like a school-filly with fancy new ribbons!"

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us.", Rarity added.

"Don't let it go to your heads, girls.", Chronicle told them. "She's a showpony, a street performer, a traveling magician. It's in her job description to show off. I've seen her kind a few times. Besides, it's not like you _have_ to watch her."

Unfortunately, as Twilight hunched down and let her ears droop sheepishly, his words fell on deaf ears as Rainbow Dash then spoke up.

"Especially when you got me around being better than the rest of us!", she said with a chuckle, then stopped herself as Applejack glared daggers at her. "Uh…I mean…yeah, uh, magic, schmagic! BOOOO!" She gave a sidelong glance at the still-disapproving farmpony.

"Well, well, well. It seems we have some ne-e-eigh-sayers in the audience.", remarked Trixie. "Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? " There were assorted reactions of disgust, annoyance, confusion, and awe from everypony, the last of which came only from Snips and Snails. "Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?"

_If only she knew who we really are, she wouldn't be so brash._, Chronicle thought. _Too bad the only ones allowed to know of our vanquishing of Nightmare Moon are Ponyville and Canterlot Castle._

Rarity gave a raspberry. "Just who does she think she is?" Spike then elbowed up between her and Twilight.

"Yeah.", agreed Spike. "Since we all know that Twilight here is—"

"Spike, shhh!" The purple unicorn then pushed him well away from the spectacle for a private chat and both kept their voices down.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You see the way they reacted to Trixie? I don't want anyone thinking I'm a showoff." Once again, the performer's fireworks went off, more energetically than before.

All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash then flew into the stage, fed up by Trixie's stunts. "So, Great and Powerful Trixie, what makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?", she asked.

Trixie answered by putting a hoof to her face with a disdainful laugh, then spoke with mounting fervor. "Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish…the dreaded Ursa Major!"

Fireworks blasted from the horns at one end of the stage, decorating the sky with the outline of a huge bear whose forehead is marked with a starburst. Its head and tail moved in a way that Chronicle alluded it to a neon sign. There were gasps and murmurs all around.

"What?!", Snips gasped.

"No way!", Snails gasped.

"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to.", Trixie continued her story as a figure of herself then approached the Ursa, wand at the ready. As she continues, it stood pat before the beast's swipes and cast a spell, causing it to fizzle out and disappear in a shower of sparks. "But the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave, deep within the Everfree Forest!"

_That's nothing. I went hoof-to-hoof with Nightmare Moon, who cetainly can give the Ursa Major a run for its money. Granted, she went easy on me, but still…_

"Suh-weet!", cried out the two colts.

"That settles it!", added Snips.

As the magician stood proudly, Snails walked closer to the stage and gestured to her as he spoke. "Trixie truly is the most talented, most magical, most awesome unicorn in Ponyville!", he said.

Snipped popped up next to him. "No! In all of Equestria!" At that time, Twilight and Spike had returned to the crowd.

"How do you know?", Spike objected. "You didn't see it! And besides, Twi—" He was cut off as his mouth was literally zipped shut by the unicorn he was about to mention.

"They're just children, Spike.", Chronicle told him. "They don't know any better."

Trixie gave out a laugh. "It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville!"

She was answered by dead silence from the crowd as crickets chirped. Even though it was still early in the day for them to do that.

"Just let her brag, everypony. Just let her brag." _Although I think she's taking a step too far here._

"Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Well, then, I hereby challenge you Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone, hmm?" There was no answer from anypony. "Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived?"

Once again, she rose to her hind legs, and there came another fusillade of fireworks, the most elaborate so far, after which Spike unzipped his lip and threw himself at Twilight's hooves, sobbing.

"Please! She's unbearable! You gotta show her! You just gotta!"

"There's no way I'm gonna use my magic now, Spike.", he was answered. "Especially since—"

She was cut off by Trixie as she scanned the crowd. "Hmmm…how about…you?" She then pointed at Twilight, who swallowed hard.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—S—S—T

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- Trixie onstage on the right pointing a hoof at a nervous Twilight Sparkle on the left. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—S—S—T

After pointing at the purple unicorn, Trixie strode confidently toward the edge of the stage.

"Well, how about it, hmmm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't?", she dared.

"I, uh, I… "

"Well, little hayseed?"

Before an answer could be given, Applejack spoke up. "That's it! I can't stand for no more of this!"

"You show her, AJ!", Spike called out as the farmpony walked up on stage.

"Can your magical powers do this?" Applejack began her 'performance'. She twirled a lasso around herself at floor level with her tail. She hoisted the loop clear of the boards, then worked it forward and backward. There was a chorus of "oohs" from the crowd.

An expert flick of the blond tail then sent the lasso flying to snag an apple off a tree. The rope loosened on the return trip so that the fruit landed squarely in her mouth. After a quick chew and swallow, the crowd voiced its approval.

Applejack then turned to face Trixie. "Top that, missy!"

In response, the magician's hat began to glow in the same color as Trixie's eyes. "Oh, ye of little talent." Her hat was then lifted clear of her head, fully exposing her horn and mane, the latter of which curled slightly. "Watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie!"

One end of the now-untied rope began to glow in the same aura as it sinuously off the stage, just like how snake charmers do it. It swayed back and forth before Applejack's face, catching her attention as the other end of the rope pulled a second apple from the tree. The first end then lashed toward Applejack's hooves and hogtied her, briefly lifting her upside down off the stage before dropping her on her back. Then, once she fell on the stage floor, the apple was stuffed whole into her mouth. The crowd laughed and cheered as the farmpony hobble-hopped away.

_I'll admit that was neat._

"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails.", the magician declared. Just then, Rainbow Dash flew right up to Trixie's face.

"There's no need to go strutting around and showing off like that!"

"Oh?"

"That's my job." Rainbow then went off into a speeding charge and set a windmill spinning at an insanely high speed as she grabbed one vane. The machine then pitched her skyward when she let go; punching neat holes through a long row of clouds. The self-assured aviator hovered briefly before the sun so that it silhouetted her form.

Her next move was a screaming dive that carried her through the holes she punched and down to the same windmill, a few droplets of moisture following her from the clouds. When she repeated the grab-release maneuver, the vanes flung her straight back to the stage, where she skidded to a stop and let the trailing droplets scatter off her back, resulting in a a small rainbow forming over her head.

"They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothing."

Once again, the crowd cheered from the display while Trixie seemed unperturbed. "When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is 'loser'!"

Her horn then glowed as she shot a beam at the rainbow, making it wrap its creator up in a little tornado and carry her yelling into the sky. The cyclone veered madly in all directions before hitting the ground upside down and flying away.

Rainbow wound up lying on her face in the dirt, her eyes jittering and her body bent upward as if sprawled against an invisible wall. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Seems like anypony with a dash of good sense would think twice before tussling with the Great Trixie." On the end of this, she cast another spell as Rainbow got upright and fumbled her way to a now-untied Applejack and the crowd. A black cloud appeared overhead and zapped the pegasus in the rump with a lightning bolt. There was laughter from all from the resulting yelp.

_That's not 'better', as Trixie supposedly claims._

"What we need is another unicorn to challenge her!", Spike said as he elbowed Twilight's leg. "Someone with some magic of their own?"

"Yeah!", Rainbow agreed as she moved towards Chronicle. "A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss!"

"A real unicorn-to-unicorn tussle!", added Applejack as Spike eyed Twilight expectantly.

"Uh…", the purple unicorn uttered.

"I'm not about to upstage such a braggart.", her bodyguard whispered. "Won't be fair for a stallion to best a mare, now would it?" _Or are gender standards flipped here, where the female is genetically dominant over the male, considering the Princess and all?_

Rarity then stepped up. "Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace."

"Ooh, what's the matter?", Trixie taunted. "Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane?"

_Uh oh._, Chronicle groaned as Rarity took the bait.

"Oh, it is on!" Now onstage and circling Trixie, the aspiring designer regained the bulk of her composure. "You may think you're tough with all of your so-called powers, but there is more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle." Her horn proceeded to glow as she 'pulled off' the curtain. "A unicorn needs to have style." The curtain then wrapped itself into a tight whirl around her body, and a flash clears it away to show the results. She now wore a blue gown trimmed in gold, complete with saddle, that left her forelegs bare, and her mane has been styled into a tall bouffant.

Over the crowd's "oohs", she continued, "A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty." Trixie just smirked and readied herself for another spell.

"Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her!", Spike said in a lovestruck manner. "She's strong, she's beautiful…" There came a flash and his eyes widened in disbelief. "…she's…" His jaw then dropped, the crowd mirroring his sentiments in face and voice.

"QUICK!", Rarity panicked. "I NEED A MIRROR! GET ME A MIRROR! What did she do to my hair? I know she did something terrible to my hair!"

Twilight was trying not to laugh as she answered, "Nothing."

Rainbow Dash was doing the same. "It's fine."

Applejack was feeling unsettled. "It's gorgeous!"

Chronicle had a hoof on his face. "I'm not gonna warrant an answer."

Spike was stunned. "It's green." Instantly, the others mares glared at him. "What?"

Rarity's mane was indeed green, and in two different shades at that. It was also a piled-up mess, with a twig and a few berries caught in it, as well as a couple of tails protruding from the uppermost reaches.

_Apparently, Trixie decided to act on that "rat's nest" crack. Not 'better' than what Rarity did either._

"No! Green hair! Not green hair!", Rarity lamented as she dashed through the crowd, shuddering. "Such an awful, awful color!"

_Seriously? Her hair being green should be the_ least _of her problems._

As she sobbed and galloped away, she bypassed Golden Harvest, whose hair was now green instead of her usual orange.

"Well, I never!", she cried out in offense. In an instant, Chronicle was suddenly there next to her.

"How'd you change your hair color so easily?", he asked her. "By the way, I can't call you Carrot Top now that you're not…well…" He then glanced at the green hair.

"Oh, is that so? Now that I think of it, orange hair works best for me."

Meanwhile, back at the front…

"Well, Twilight, I guess it's up to you.", said Spike as Trixie blew a bit of dust off one hoof. "Come on. Show her what you're made of."

Twilight smiled nervously. "What do you mean? I'm nothing special."

"Yes, you are! You're better than her!"

"I'm not better than anyone!"

"Ha!", Trixie suddenly said as she approached the edge of her stage. "You think you're better than the Great and Powerful Trixie? You think you have more magical talent?" She was now close enough to glower over the boards at the frightened challenger and the defiant little dragon. "Well, come on. Show Trixie what you've got. Show us all."

The full weight of the crowd's gaze bore down on Twilight for a moment. "Who, me?" She was obviously trying to play it off. "I'm just your run-of-the-mill citizen of Ponyville. No powerful magic here. I, uh…I think I hear my laundry calling. Sorry, gotta go." She then suddenly galloped away from the scene, leaving a bunch of very confused ponies and one disappointed assistant.

"Twilight…?", Spike uttered as Trixie sucked in a disdainful gasp.

"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria." Trixie then turned to walk off. "Was there ever any doubt?"

"As a matter of fact, there still is.", a voice came.

Trixie stopped turned her head to the other side of the stage…and saw Chronicle facing her. "Well, well, well." Trixie turned her body to completely face him. "Looks like somepony can't tell when she's out of her league."

"Well, after insulting some of my friends, I just feel like either teaching you your place or at least get my share of humiliation." His horn then proceeded to glow.

"Even after it's apparent that no mare can stand a chance against the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"Whatever made you think I was a mare?" Chronicle raised an eyebrow as Trixie paused in slight surprise. He now knew that he got her. "Just about everypony thinks I'm a girl at first sight when in truth I'm actually a guy." There was a semi-collective gasp from the audience. "Well, looks like I got quite the reaction. The real reason why I'm here however is because of your claim."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"The claim that anything any of us can do, you can do better. Well, as far as I can tell, you only proved that true **once** with the rope trick. For those other times, you just twisted their tricks against them, hardly besting them if you ask me."

Trixie made a smug face. "What makes you think **you** can do better than those losers?"

"Well…" All of a sudden, Chronicle 'unsheathed' his signature "magic horn blade". "Let's see if you can best me in a duel."

"If you put it that way, looks like Trixie has no choice."

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—S—S—T

The duel had resulted in something awkward. Chronicle was finding himself in an embarrassing situation again and again. Currently, he lay on his back and was looking at Trixie upside-down. While the performance was admittedly interesting, it was taking too much of their time and they had to leave. Spike left as well, most likely to try and convince Twilight to challenge Trixie, which was highly unlikely.

"Had enough yet?", the stage magician asked in a haughty manner, slightly panting. She was answered by him swiftly getting up on his feet in one swift movement.

"How about that?", he challenged. "Can you do better?" He was answered with her turning her head towards something on the stage wall. He followed her gaze and saw an analog clock.

"Even the Great and Powerful Trixie has her limits. Four challenges in a row, especially when the last one is somepony as stubborn as yourself, can render even Trixie exhausted. Besides…" She then turned to the few ponies who were left watching. "It's apparent she has obviously wasted far too much time."

"I understand." Chronicle then turned to leave. "Perhaps we can continue our duel another time. And next time…" He then paused and turned back to Trixie. "I won't go as easy." This got him the reaction he expected; an attempt to conceal her shock. "See you around." With that, his horn glowed again and he teleported away.

He reemerged somewhere behind the stage, where no one could see him. _Okay. That didn't go as well as I hoped. In fact, I think I screwed up somewhere there. Guess it can't be helped._ He then smacked himself in the face with his hoof. (2)

C—T—C—T—C—T—C—T—C—T

A while later…

Trixie's stage and all its effects have since been packed away back into its trailer form. Chronicle didn't have any tasks from Twilight Sparkle for the day, as she has left most of it to Spike, whom she trusts more on certain matters in spite of the fact he can do them better. Currently, he was walking absently across the street.

_I'm bored. Bored out of my skull. Trying to do_ that _with Trixie certainly didn't sate my 'appetite'. Maybe I can do an odd job or two, but where's Ponyville's Request Board?_ His eyes scanned the area for it. He located a buletin board in the town square. _Oho-ho-ho! There it is!_

He trotted up to a nearby board, full of paper, bulletins, and the like. Request Boards like this one provide odd jobs or side jobs other ponies like himself can do if one's looking for a quick bit to nab. However, unlike the Request Boards at Canterlot, there weren't many…requests up.

He saw some of the usual; item requests, part-time jobs, deliveries, finding lost pets. There were also a few dangerous ones like a fetch quest for monster parts like a manticore tail, escort missions, bodyguarding (which he can't take), and bounty hunts.

He scanned the posted requests, looking for something he can complete in an hour or two. Eventually, he located something worthwhile:

**HELP WANTED:**

Missing Cat: Ebony

**REWARD: 21 Bits**

Along with the request was a picture of the cat. From what he could tell, he couldn't discern its breed, but it looked like the stereotypical "bad luck" cat. Not that he normally believed in such things, but it pays to be cautious.

He then looked at the address below. _Hmm…if I remember correctly, I think this is where Bon Bon lives. Well, first thing's first. I should go ask them where she was last seen._ He took the paper advertising the request, then made his way to one of the many houses in Ponyville. He then trotted up to the welcome mat, which depicted Bon Bon's cutie mark, brushed up his hooves on it, then rapped at the door.

To his surprise, it wasn't Bon Bon who answered the door, but—

"Lyra?!"

"Oh, Chronicle.", the mint green unicorn greeted back. "What brings you here?"

"I accepted a request on the Request Board about a missing cat named Ebony." He levitated the poster.

"Oh, you're here to help me? Thanks."

"You're welcome, I guess. I came here to ask where you last saw her…or him."

"Ebony's a boy, I last saw him headed for the marketplace."

"You have anything he owns or has made contact with? I think I know of a spell that can pinpoint his location, although I'll admit I'm still not that good at it."

"Sorry, but I can't help you there. He should be easy to find, though. Here. Use this." Lyra levitated a small pouch and 'passed' it over to Chronicle.

"What's this? Catnip?"

"Yeah. Along with a special treat Bon Bon makes for him. Good luck."

C—LH—C—LH—C—LH—C—LH—C—LH

Fifteen minutes later…

He was hot on the cat's trail. He had managed to catch sight of the feline, but like all cats, they proved difficult to catch. He had done only two such requests before back at Canterlot, and both proved more troublesome than they were worth.

He pursued Ebony all the way to a small shop. As he went closer, he could see a black unicorn stallion in charge of the store. He had spiky grey hair, blue eyes, and a sheathed sword cutie mark. _Curious._ Before he could get bast the shop's counter, the black stallion stopped him with a blue wall of magic. Chronicle slammed into it and reeled back from the impact.

"Hold on there, miss.", he said. "What's the rush?"

"I'm after a cat that went in your store, and you should be calling me 'mister'. I'm a stallion."

"Okay. Sorry about that, mis…ter. Let me find that cat for you. You wait here."

"Oh, all right." As the shopkeeper went deep into his store, Chronicle took the time to see what was for sale. On display were an array of weapons and armor of all sorts, though nothing flashy or expensive-looking. There were also a few kitchen knives, hatchets, and hammers. After a while, the shopkeeper returned, Ebony beside him in a blue aura.

"Here ya go.", he said as he 'passed' the feline to Chronicle, who then took out the pouch and shook it in front of Ebony. The cat seemed elated and began to 'swim' for the pouch. Chronicle let him do so and as the cat then dug himself in, the blue unicorn turned to the shopkeeper.

"Interesting store you got here.", he commented.

"Thanks. I'm an armor and weapons trader. Not that many need such around these parts."

"In spite of the fact that there's the Everfree Forest nearby?"

"Well, monsters rarely leave the forest and almost nopony has a good reason to go there."

"I see. Well, your merchandise looks interesting."

"Glad you like it. The name's Graphite." The black unicorn extended a hoof. (3)

"Chronicle." The blue unicorn returned the greeting. "Well, it was nice talking to you, but I need to return this cat now." He then turned to leave.

"I hope to see you again sometime.", Graphite called back.

Still 'carrying' Ebony, Chronicle left Graphite's store and returned to Bon Bon's house without so much as a hitch. Once again, he knocked on the door. This time, it was Bon Bon who answered.

"Oh. Hi there, Chronicle.", the earth pony greeted.

"Hey, Bon Bon. Is Heartstrings here?"

Bon Bon turned around as if to call someone inside the house. "Lyra?! I believe somepony has found your cat!" Hoofsteps on wood can be heard as Lyra then emerged into view, a small pouch of bits levitated next to her in a gold aura.

"Here's your pay, Chronicle.", Lyra said as Chronicle 'passed' the cat to her. "And thanks for finding Ebony for me."

"You're welcome." Chronicle then turned to leave. _I wonder what other jobs I could take?_

C—LH—BB—G—C—LH—BB—G—C—LH—BB—G

Evening…

Chronicle had finished a couple more requests and now had a generous amount of bits. Currently, he was looking at one peculiar poster. Well, it wasn't exactly peculiar, but it did interest him. It seemed to be an job application of sorts. A unicorn pony named Mystic Shield was searching for soempony who can help him start up a small dojo called "Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy for Unicorns". He was due to be ready in a few days.

_Looks like an interesting venture. I think I'll go contact this Mystic Shield some other time._ All of a sudden, there was a rumble in the ground. _This can't be good._ It was then followed by a roar. _This can't be good at all. I better investigate if it's a threat._

And with that, Chronicle galloped off to the source of the sound. On the way, a minute after bypassing Trixie's trailer, Snips and Snails were about to bypass him when he 'stopped' them short with his magic.

"What's the trouble, boys?", he asked. _Darn, that sounded ridiculous._

"Can't talk now!", said Snips.

"Got a major problem!", said Snails.

"Yeah! Ursa Major, to be exact!"

"Wait, what?"

There was another roar and it caught him off guard such that he 'let go' of the two colts, who bolted straight for Trixie's trailer. He then looked ahead to see something emerging from the Everfree Forest. From what little he could discern, there seemed to be a gargantuan bear creature with red eyes (and orange sclera), a starburst on its head, and a twinkling blue body. For a moment, he could swear it was translucent. Then, he realized what it was.

_Aw, hay no! It's an Ursa—_

C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- The Ursa emerging from the Everfree Forest. The show's logo is seen on the upper right.

C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S

The second he saw the bear creature, he quickly cast a spell and in a flash, there was a copy of himself right in front of him. It was slightly translucent so that only a keen-eyed pony could tell him apart from the real him. He had to be careful, though. It costs him a generous amount of magic to create a magic clone, and it is incapable of much physical interaction; that is, the copy cannot physically lift, push, pull, or do anything slightly strenuous. While the copy is capable of using the same spells as he, it can only withstand one strong hit before dissipating. At present, he can only make one, but thankfully one was enough for what he needed to do.

"Go and stall the Ursa!", he ordered. Immedately, his copy nodded and ran off to the woods. As for Chronicle himself, he went and followed Snips and Snails. He saw them pounding frantically on the door of Trixie's wagon, the top half of which was half open.

"Trixie! Come out! Trixie!", yeled Snails.

"Trixie, help! You gotta help us!", yelled Snips.

Just as Chronicle arrived, the stage magician finally appeared, putting her head out through the open top half and looking very cross. She wasn't wearing her hat and cape. "Trixie thought she said the Great and Powerful Trixie did not want to be disturbed!"

Snips began to laugh nervously. "W-We…we have a...a tiny problem."

"Actually, it's a big one.", corrected Snails.

"What is so important that you cannot wait until morning to disturb Trixie?!"

"One word.", said Chronicle. "Ursa."

There was a bellow that followed a heart-stopping instant later. The Ursa emerged from the woods, approaching fast. Down on all fours, it stood as tall as the Ponyville houses. It made another hearty roar, which was enough to make Trixie fling the bottom half of the door open, knocking away the two grinning idiots, and send her off in a screaming panic. Once Snips and Snails got up, they did likewise. Chronicle followed as well just before one mighty paw stomped the trailer into kindling wood. As the Ursa roared again, Chronicle's copy rush in fron behind.

"Hey, short-tail! Yoo-hoo! Over here!", he cried out in an attempt to catch the Ursa's attention, which was in vain so far. "So that's how you want it, eh?" The copy then decided to jump onto the Ursa's back in an attempt to shake it off as it reached the town square, where the real him was 'cornered' alongside the colts and Trixie.

"Great and Powerful Trixie!", called out Snips. "You've got to vanquish the Ursa!"

"Yeah, vanquish so we can watch!", agreed Snails.

The two blue adult unicorns got a good look at the the menacing ursine visage, saliva dripping from its jaws. "It took a lot of trouble to get that thing here!"

Needless to say, Trixie was shocked. "Wait! You brought this here? Are you out of your little pony minds?!"

"But…you're the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Yeah, remember?", reminded Snails. "You defeated an Ursa Major!"

"You still believe in that stuff?!", yelled Chronicle. He then turned to Trixie. "You should run! My duel with you showed only a fraction of my powers. I can handle this."

"Stand back!", the stage magician declared. "Let Trixie show you all what she can do."

_Is she for real? Let's see if she's really great and powerful..._ "…Okay, sure."

Trixie was surprised with the easy answer. "Wait, what?"

"You said you'd handle it. I'm letting you. Go for it." With that, Chronicle stepped back in between Snips and Snails. _A risky gambit, I'll admit, but I can deal with that Ursa should she fail. It's only a question of whether or not taking it down _permanently_ is A-okay._

Trixie's first move was to levitate a piece of rope from a nearby vase. She then wrapped it around part of the Ursa's body, then voiced a relieved sigh and smiled thinly. "Piece of cake."

"Oh, really?", snarked Chronicle as it turned out that she has only bound two of the digits on one forepaw. The Ursa snapped them loose without trouble, causing her two fans to lose some of their ardor.

"Aw, come on, Trixie!", complained Snips.

"Stop goofin' around and vanquish it, eh?", added Snails.

Trixie shuddered, gave another gulp, then had another go at it. This time, her magic called up a storm cloud that cracked out lightning—but only over the Ursa's tail. It had no effect aside from Chronicle's magic copy still struggling.

"Well, that was a dud.", said Snails.

"Yeah!", agreed Snips as he then gave a raspberry. "Come on! Where's all the cool explosions and smoke and stuff like earlier, you know?"

"I think it's obvious that the 'cool explosions' were just props.", put in Chronicle. "And I'm sure they would actually be really useful right about now." Lightning struck the beast squarely on the rump, leaving a charred patch of fur and doing very little to improve its disposition. The magic copy remained unharmed. "Too bad the trailer's crushed thanks to you two!" The Ursa then opened its slavering jaws wide toward the four unicorns.

"Uh-oh.", gulped Trixie. As the Ursa bellowed in rage, she, Snails, and Snips bailed out, galloping through its legs.

"Looks like it's up to me." Chronicle then fired up his horn for a spell. "Get over here!"

The Ursa raised a paw and swiped at the stallion, who 'flash-stepped' back, then 'fired' a volley of star-shaped blasts. He then started to run around the Ursa and his magic copy jumped down to do the same. The Ursa gave out another bellow as one of them tried to lure it to the forest with taunts.

Suddenly, as would be expected, lights went on in windows all over Ponyville as the noise and tremors ruin a good night's sleep. As an unsettled crowd gathered, the Ursa shifted its attention to one of the houses and chomped into a roof, sending the ponies into a panicked stampede.

Still, Chronicle refused to give up. Together with his copy, they fire more star-shaped blasts at the Ursa in an attempt to catch its attention. They managed to do so, but they could not have foreseen what was about to happen next. The Ursa raised its forepaws, and swiped to grab at them. Chronicle himself teleported out just in time, but his magic clone wasn't as lucky. The Ursa then hurled the copy skyward as the real Chronicle decided to follow it.

Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle, with Spike on her back, met them coming the other way; after she has galloped through them, she hit the brakes and shifted direction. A moment later, she found Snips, Snails, and Trixie. Before she could ask any of them, she saw Chronicle falling right for them. The instant he smacked the ground however, he disppeared in a series of twinkles.

"CHRONICLE!", she and Spike cried out. A second later, they saw him galloping straight for them. Needless to say, they were surprised. "How… But we just…"

"I forgot I never told you I could make a magical clone of myself.", he said. "Took a good while to learn it. I can only make one, though."

"What's going on here?"

"We brought an Ursa to town!", Snips answered for him with a laugh.

Twilight turned to face the colt. "You what?!"

"Don't worry, the Great and Powerful Trixie'll vanquish it!", assured Snails.

They all turned to her, who was just a few paces away—and wishing she had never brought her show to Ponyville in the first place. She then hung her head sadly. "I can't.", she answered.

"What?!", the two colts gasped.

"I can't, I never have. No one can vanquish an Ursa Major. I just made the whole story up to make me look better."

"Made it up?!"

"She's a showpony.", said Chronicle. "That's part of her job!" He then turned to Trixie. "Although I'll have to say the Ursa Major tale was too tall a one to make. There are plenty more less dangerous but still amazing claims out there, you know."

Just then, the Ursa made its presence known, towering over a nearby house to perhaps twice its height, blocking out the moon. Twilight's eyes grew to saucer-size and she gritted her teeth to the breaking point; the forepaws of the beast came up and the roar was loud enough to shake all Equestria. There was panic from all the spectators, including Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, the last's mane already restored to normal. Spike gave Twilight an elbow in the ribs and gestured toward the impending destruction.

"Like it or not, you're up.", Chronicle told his charge. "I was considering taking down the beast permanently, but…"

Twilight gave her two male companions an uncertain look, then closed her eyes and swallowed hard. When she opened them again, steely resolve has written itself across the purple irises. She took measured steps toward the Ursa and stops just in front of the massive chest, planting her hooves wide to brace herself. Her charge stood right beside her, ready to provide support.

Her eyes and jaw squeezed tight, Twilight summoned a wind that started to wave flags on roofs and boughs on trees. Suddenly, a melody could be heard coming from the direction of the cattail field just outside Ponyville. The Ursa was soothed by the sound and fell silent as its eyelids started to droop.

As it began to totter drowsily from side to side, Spike whispered as he gave a thumbs-up, "Nice use of number sixteen!"

As the glow from Twilight's horn then intensified, Chronicle decided to pitch in. However, because he didn't know what his charge was planning, he created a faint line of magic connecting their horns together, starting up the "power transfer" spell. This time, instead of taking magic like he did with Nightmare Moon, he gave his magic to Twilight, who certainly needed it more.

He then looked around to see what his charge was doing and saw her 'lift' the water tower's tank, 'unscrew' the top, dump out the water, and float to an open barn. The tank body entered while the top continued past and he could swear he heard cows inside mooing in surprise. The body then emerged, brimming with milk, and the top aligned itself to fit back in place.

"That's new.", remarked Spike as the top then clanged back onto the tank body.

The Ursa, meanwhile, began to topple over in Trixie's direction—but with inches to spare, Twilight got it under her control and 'hauled' it back up. Rays have begun to shoot from her horn in all directions due to the strain. In spite of the extra magic provided by her bodyguard, she was still struggling. Apparently, focus was still an issue.

The now-placid Ursa hovered quietly just off the ground, then floated up several yards onto its back and received the improvised baby bottle. As the locals watched speechlessly, the colossal creature drifted slowly out of town and out of sight, presumably back to wherever it slumbered prior to Snips and Snails disturbing it. He was gonna have a word with them later.

After a third of a minute more, Twilight let her powers wind down and half-collapsed, gasping for breath. Chronicle slumped over as well, less winded than his charge but still winded regardless. Just then, the sound of cheering brought them back upright; a crowd has gathered behind them.

"Unbelievable!", cried out one pony.

"That was amazing!", cried out Rainbow Dash.

"Heavens to Betsy!", commented Applejack. "We knew you had ability, but not that much!"

Twilight quivered in fear. "I'm sorry. Please, please don't hate me."

"Hate you?", gasped Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?", the fashionista asked.

"And how did you even come up with that ridiculous conclusion, Twilight?!", Chronicle asked in a baffled manner. _I mean, it's not like we wrecked the town in the midst of saving it._

"Well…I know how much you all hated Trixie's showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa.", Rainbow interrupted. "Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loudmouth."

"Most unpleasant.", added Rarity.

"All hat and no cattle.", finished Applejack.

"Showing off is just her career.", continued Chronicle. "And we certainly didn't do what we did just now simply to show off."

"So…you don't mind my magic tricks?", his charge asked.

"Your magic is a part of who you are, sugarcube, and we like who you are.", said the farmpony. "We're proud to have such a powerful talented unicorn as our friend."

"And after whuppin' that Ursa's hindquarters, we're even prouder.", supported the cyan pegasus.

Twilight gave a smile. "You are?"

"Uh-huh."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Wow, Twilight!", gasped Spike. "How'd you know what to do with that Ursa Major?"

"That's what I was doing when you came looking for me. I was so intrigued by Trixie's bragging that I was compelled to do a little reading up on them."

"So it is possible to vanquish an Ursa Major all by yourself?"

"Actually, that wasn't an Ursa Major.", put in Chronicle. "It was naught but a baby; an Ursa **Minor**."

"That was just a baby?", gasped Trixie, earning a few looks from the others.

"And it wasn't rampaging.", continued Twilight. "It was just cranky because someone woke it up."

Snips and Snails suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of several angry glares. "Awww…", they said.

"Well, if that was an Ursa Minor, then…", Spike asked in borderline panic …what's an Ursa Major like?"

Twilight thought about it for a second, then decided to say, "You don't want to know."

"Seriously, you don't.", Chronicle added with a twinge of fright as he shuddered upon recalling one memory that took place in his time prior to his contract with Princess Celestia.

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmy goshohmygosh!_, Chronicle thought to himself as he ran for his life, wearing a blue saddlebag carrying a medium-weight item. Pursuing him was a behemoth of a beast. Like the Ursa Minor, it was the general shape of a bear, a stellar translucent body, and a starburst on its forehead. However, its teeth and claws were much longer, its star-sprinkled fur was purple and shaggy and four times larger. He wasn't afraid of it, though; it was his life he was scared for, not to mention his surprise upon seeing an Ursa Major for the first time. _Why oh why did I even accept that request from that Canterlot snob?! Had I known what an Ursa Major is like, I would never have gone through with it!

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_I was even lucky to make it out of that one alive thanks to Steven._, Chronicle added as he realized he was shuddering from the memory as Twilight then turned to face him.

"You look like you've seen one before."

"I have. Sometime before I became your bodyguard. I'll tell you all about it some other time if you want."

Just then, Trixie came over, her bravado surprisingly restored so quickly. "Hah! You may have vanquished an Ursa Minor, but you will never have the amazing show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Your special talent is stage magic.", answered Chronicle. "Of course we won't be as good as you in making performances."

She didn't answer him as she conjured a burst of smoke to hide herself from view. When it cleared, she could be seen galloping out of town.

"Why, that little—" Rainbow Dash was about to take off, intending to pursue, but was stopped by Twilight.

"Just let her go.", the purple unicorn said. "Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson."

"Oh, snap! I almost forgot!", gasped Chronicle. He fired up his horn and in an instant, a magical clone of him was created, earning him gasps of surprise from the crowd. He ignored them as he then took out from his "pocket of hammerspace" a medium-sized pouch of bits, and 'passed' it to his copy, who then galloped off after Trixie, his horn and legs glowing as he picked up speed.

"What was that for?", asked Applejack.

"Well, thanks to these two boneheads," He gestured to Snips and Snails, who were about to sneak away when they found Twilight standing right in their path. "Trixie's trailer was smashed by the Ursa Minor." Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were about to speak up when he stopped them with a raised hoof. "And while Trixie certainly deserves a lesson due to her overblown advertising of her talents, she doesn't deserve to lose her career and what's most likely her **home**." He gave a piercing glare at the three as he said that. "Speaking of Trixie, I'd like to have a word with you three about your conduct at her performance."

"Now, about you two.", Twilight said to the two colts.

Snips laughed nervously. "Uh, we're sorry that we woke up the Ursa Minor."

"We just wanted to see some awesome magic!", said Snails.

"Yeah! And the way you vanquished that Ursa Minor was awesome!" Twilight gave them a searching look and they prostrated themselves before her.

"We deserve whatever punishment you give us."

Twilight: looked to one side. "For starters—" She turned to the smashed remains of Trixie's trailer. "—you can clean up this mess." She then turned to Spike as they smiled slyly. "And…what do you think, Spike? Should I give them number twenty-five?"

"Ohhh, twenty-five! Yes—and I think I deserve it, too."

Snips and Snails didn't understand what "number twenty-five" was and gave a scared "Huh?" in confusion.

"…and Rarity, what you did to Trixie's curtain was destruction of property, regardless of who she was.", Chronicle was saying.

"I think you're right.", agreed Twilight as her horn flared brightly, giving the two scrubs a serious case of the jitters. Spike was now alongside them, and—being the only one who knows what's coming—he pushed his face as close to her as he can from where he stood. All three noses and chins glowed, and their mustaches appeared.

"Sweet!", the three boys cried out.

"I still don't think their punishment is enough, however.", Chronicle told his charge. "After all, for all we know, that was Trixie's home that got smashed thanks to them. Give them a stern beating for me, will you? I have a lecture to give." He turned to their three friends in the area, who looked at him with confusion. _I wonder where Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were during all this? Not that they _needed_ to be there._

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—S—S—T

The next day, in the library…

Twilight Sparkle was writing a letter. Every week, she was to submit a friendship report to Princess Celestia. It wasn't due 'til Tuesday, but it'll be sent on that day. Previously, she considered sending it once she has it, but her assistant advised her to only send one per week even in the event that she have more than one lesson learnt for the week. That way, should there be a week where she is unable to find a lesson to learn, she can still submit a letter. Currently, Chronicle was asleep in bed.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship.", the letter went as follows. "I was so afraid of being thought of as a showoff that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off—especially when you're standing up for your friends."

"So…", Spike (with the mustache on) came up from behind his 'boss' as she wrote the letter. "…you finally admit that you're the most talented unicorn in all of Ponyville?"

"Well…" Twilight gaave a smile. "…yeah. But it's nothing to brag about. And Chronicle did help too. So, uh, how did it go with Rarity?"

Spike goraned, fingering his facial hair. "She didn't go for the mustache.

Twilight waked over to him, "You know, Spike, that mustache has nothing to do with who you really are. Maybe you should just try being yourself."

"Or…maybe the mustache wasn't enough. Maybe if I had a mustache and a beard."

Twilight groaned. "Not this again!"

"Okay. Imagine me with a nice long Fu Manchu-type beard. Or maybe a goatee…oh, no, a soul patch!"

All the while, Chronicle didn't so much as stir from his slumber.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Yeh, I know it may sometimes be too much of a bother if I note the background ponies, but I just love to.  
(2) I guess I screwed up in my added portion of "Chronicle vs. Trixie". I'll try and do better next time. Also, as most of this is in Chronicle's POV, not all scenes from the episode I'm 'basing' this chapter on will be featured and it may look a bit like a side story. You should know what happens if you truly know. Else, watch the episode or read a script of it. You can find one in Equestria Daily.  
(3) Graphite's a background pony actually in the show, but he's not exactly popular like Derpy, Lyra, Doctor Whooves, etc.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	5. Chapter 5: Griffon The Brush-Off

Pinkie Pie: So you're working on the episode with that meanie griffon Gilda now?

nightelf37: Yes. You got a problem?

Pinkie: Nope.

nightelf37: Good.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, the new stallion who will appear later, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

**Chapter 5: Griffon the Brush-Off**

Daytime in the outskirts of Ponyville…

Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down as she rambled about something. One a bench nearby, Twilight Sparkle was sitting down on it and reading a book.

"Hoof-biting action overload!", the pink earth pony was saying. "She was like a stunt superstar, flying higher and higher, and then Rainbow Dash swooped down, swoosh!" She zipped off, then hopped back. "And right before she hit the ground, shoom!" She floated whle doing this, then landed on her hooves "She pulled up! Vroom!"

"Uh-huh." Twilight wasn't paying attention as she replied.

"And then she looped around and around, like woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo!" She mimiced the action with her head, eventually becoming so dizzy that she collapsed to the ground.

"Uh-huh."

The pink pony wound up on her back, giving her a good view of Rainbow Dash soaring overhead. upon seeing the pegasus, she bounded up and raced after the blue flyer.

"Phew!", Twilight sighed in relief as she flipped a page with her teeth rather than magic, and continued reading. "Hmm…I wonder where Chronicle is."

TS—RD—PP—TS—RD—PP—TS—RD—PP—TS—RD—PP

Somewhere at the back of Books and Branches Library…

"Thanks, Cloud Kicker, Lightning Bolt." (2)

Chronicle had requested for the two ponies' assistance in propping up some items for him. Cloud Kicker is a pegasus pony with orchid eyes, light amber hair with a very light yellow streak, a lavender coat, and a sun behind a white cloud as a cutie mark. Lightning Bolt is also a pegasus pony. She had cyan eyes, light cerulean hair, a white coat, and a dark cloud issuing her namesake as a cutie mark.

Finally, they were done and Chronicle looked at the finished product. A medium-sized field has been formed behind the library, its perimeter partly lined with a wooden fence and bales of hay from Applejack's farm, the rest closed off by the library's wall. Old "equinequins" from Rarity, non-stinky trash, toys broken beyond repair, busted pillows, smashed machines, and all sorts of items nopony uses anymore that is safe to destroy were stored in one corner of the area. There were also a couple of clouds as well brought over by the two pegasi with him.

"It's a pleasure, Chronicle.", answered Cloud.

"We saw your request on the Request Board.", said Lightning.

"So you did.", replied Chronicle. "Anyway, here's your pay." He 'procured' two pouches filled with bits and 'passed' it to the two pegasi. "Thanks again!"

"Bye!", they replied as they took the pouched and left. Once they were gone, the stalion turned around to what he would henceforth call his "targets".

"Okay. Time to get started." Chronicle levitated a broken vase up and situated it onto a stand. That was when he realized something. "How should I even start practicing? I'm gonna need some ideas. But where…"

C—CK—LB—C—CK—LB—C—CK—LB—C—CK—LB

A while later…

Chronicle was taking a walk along the town square when he noticed Pinkie Pie trotting happily. Curious, he decided to approach her just as she reached a produce cart where Cloud Kicker, Derpy Hooves, and another pegasus pony were conversing with one another. The third pegasus had a chartreuse coat, dark pink hair, amaranth-colored eyes, three suns as her cutie mark, and her name was Merry May.

"Hi!", Pinkie greeted them just as he came over as well. "I'm looking for Rainbow Dash. Have you seen her?"

"Sorry, no.", answered Merry as she and the others shook their heads. Pinkie then noticed Chronicle and turned to face him.

"Hi there, Chronicle! Have you seen Rainbow Dash?"

"Nope."

"Okay, thanks anyway." She then—with Chronicle following—walked over to Twilight Sparkle, who was just outside a bookshop. "Twilight! Have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?"

Twilight pointed up. "Isn't she right up there?"

The three of them looked up to see her rear half protruding vertically from a cloud she was hiding in.

"Rainbow Dash!", Pinkie cried out in a singsong manner.

Up came the striped mane, a wisp of cloud adhering to it over a truly freaked-out face. She looked one way, then another, and took off with enough speed to nearly pulverize the rest of the cloud, leaving only a few tufts. Pinkie, completely unfazed, began hopping along the road after her at a leisurely pace. The two unicorns saw her off in a quizzical manner. Once she was gone, Chronicle turned to his charge.

"Hey, Twilight. Mind if you help me getting those clouds?" he pointed to the pieces of cloud left behind.

"Uhh…sure."

Together, the two unicorns got to work in bringing down the pieces. Luckily, apart from pegasi, magic is also capable of making contact with the clouds. Once they got them all down, Twilight decided to ask her bodyguard something.

"What's with all this?"

"I don't really know. I was thinking of practicing, but I can't seem to get an inspiration as to how I should come about it."

"How about checking the bookshop?"

"Good idea."

With that, the two unicorns entered the bookshop, bringing the tufts of cloud with them.

C—TS—RD—PP—C—TS—RD—PP—C—TS—RD—PP

Three minutes later…

Chronicle left the bookshop in a slightly dejected manner, clouds tufts 'in tow'.

_Darn. I couldn't find a thing…_, sighed Chronicle. _Maybe I should check the library._

As he made his way there, he looked up and realized he had missed something during the first time he, Spike, and Twilight arrived at Ponyville; at the top of the tree attached to the highest limb was an observatory platform and it was outfitted with a telescope.

All of a sudden, however, he felt a whoosh right above him and heard something enter the tree branches. He assumed it was Rainbow Dash hiding from Pinkie Pie. He gave a shrug and made his way to the library's entrance. Just before he could rap at the door, he heard the branches rustle again. He guessed that Pinkie was waiting for Rainbow within the branches.

Chronicle sighed as he then rapped at the door. Spike answered it.

"Hey there, Chronicle." Spike then made his way out.

"Hey there, Spike. Where do you happen to be going?"

"Don't you remember?"

"Oh, right. See ya."

C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S

Five minutes later…

Chronicle left the library, just wandering about, and once again dejected, clouds still 'in tow'.

_Again, I'm bored out of my skull. Why doesn't the library have a card catalog?!_

"Over to the right!…No, no, a little to the left!…Oh, wait! Back to the right!"

Chronicle started up, and saw that he was at the pavilion. Rainbow Dash was adjusting the position of a nearby cloud. Pinkie Pie was nearby, working her hooves around through several angles, squinching her eyes as well. Apparently, the two were up to something, and Rainbow's patience was wearing thin.

"Now, a little leftish while staying rightly." The assistant did her best to follow this one. "Stop! Hmmm…maybe a few inches to the south! Now a couple of centimeters north! Okay, one more smidge-a-meter to the—"

Rainbow Dash then lost it. "PINKIE PIE!"

"Uh, I mean, perfect! Now, wait for my signal."

The cloud had ended up almost exactly above the front doors. Pinkie then peeked through a window, and that was when Chronicle realized whom they were gonna do their thing on. He was about to enter the pavilion to give a warning when Pinkie suddenly pulled him away and covered his mouth.

Spike then exited the pavilion, whereupon Pinkie—while still holding Chronicle—threw a quick gesture skyward. Rainbow proceeded to give the cloud a swift buck, causing a sudden flash of lightning that frightened Spike into dropping his scrolls. Pinkie then let Chronicle go and leaned intently toward Spike, who stood stock-still for a moment…before starting to hiccup. Rainbow smiled and Pinkie laughed as the cloud brought the former down to the ground.

Chronicle groaned in failing to 'rescue' Spike as he continued to hiccup.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups!", Pinkie said. Everyone but the stallion laughed with her.

"Good one, Pinkie Pie!", the baby dragon replied in between hiccups. "You're always pulling a fast one on me." He then picked up one of the scrolls, but hiccuped a lick of fire over it and yelped in surprise. It vanished in a wisp of sparkling pink smoke.

"Oh dear.", complained Chronicle; Spike just sent a message to Princess Celestia by mistake.

"Oh, no!", gasped Pinkie. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Nah.", Spike hiccuped. "Don't be silly. Dragons are fireproof."

"Oh…okay. Good." She and Rainbow then traded a smile and started laughing again while Spike rounded up several other scrolls. Another incendiary hiccup burnt the lot and left him staring haplessly after the inadvertent mass mailing.

"I wish the same thing were true of scrolls."

Chronicle can't help but make a joke out of this one. "And might I say that this is Equestria's first ever…junk mail delivery."

"Junk mail?", both prankster ponies asked as Spike continued to pick up scrolls—and inadvertently send them via hiccups.

"Unsolicited or undesired messages."

The two mares turned to one another, then burst into laughter once again.

"Have you ever seen anything more hilarious?", Pinkie asked before falling back laughing.

Rainbow gave a wicked smile. "I can think of one thing." That "one thing" was to kick the cloud for another lightning flash. It would take more than that to get the jump on Chronicle, but it was sufficient to startle Pinkie—and it left her with the hiccups as well. She started alternating between these and giggles. "I didn't take you for a prankster, Pinkie Pie."

As the pegasus flew down, the earth pony had stood up. "Are you *hic* kidding? I love to pull pranks! It's all *hic* in good fun, and Pinkie Pie loo—*hic*—ooves to have *hic* fun! *hic*"

"You know, Pinkie Pie, you're not as annoying as I thought." Pinkie gave out another hiccup. "You want to hang out?"

As she spoke, she was cut off with hiccups as she was sent flying all over the place. "That'd be—I'd really—when do—I mean—when would you—" Rainbow then stopped her with a hoof over the mouth.

"A simple nod will do."

Pinkie complied and the two conspirators then smiled at each other. Meanwhile, Chronicle had taken up Spike on his back, who had his tongue stuck out.

"Okay, now keep doing that for several minutes.", Chronicle advised. "And hold it with your hand if you need to. If that doesn't work, I'll go get you a sugar cube." (1) He then turned to the two prankster ponies. "Rainbow, mind if I borrow that cloud?"

C—S—RD—PP—C—S—RD—PP—C—S—RD—PP

Later…

Chronicle had remedied Spike of his hiccups and was searching for the library with him for an idea on how to practice his combat skills. Thankfully, one was found and after perusing through it, he left the library with the book just as Twilight made her way in. He then made his way to his "training range", where he 'deposited' his clouds.

"Okay.", he said as he moved stuff around. "First you do this, then you do this, and then you do…what? Okay, hope it works. And then you need—okay, I got this. What do I do with this doohickey again? Darn I can't make heads or tails outta—oh, now I get it. One last touch and… All right! Finished."

After following the set of instructions, Chronicle managed to construct…a training dummy out of miscellaneous items.

"This isn't gonna work.", he groaned. "I think I'm gonna have to buy one from—oh, right. There's no way I can get one of those the royal guards of Canterlot use. Come to think of it, do they really…only one way to find out; the Request Board. But first…"

Chronicle prepared his "magic horn blade" and 'whacked' away at the dummy, dodging its 'counterattacks' and performing parries. It wasn't much, but it'll have to do. Until Mystic Shield arrives at Ponyville, this was his only means of reveling in combat.

All of a sudden, he thought he heard a small explosion and breaking of glass. He then remembered Twilight doing a chemistry experiment. He was sure she was fine, but he created a magic copy and had it check her just in case. After a while of practicing, he 'set' the dummy aside, then took deep breaths.

**[screen mode]**

{Cut to Chronicle in the center of a circular perimeter lined by fencing and bales of hay. Fade to a close-up of his face and pan slowly to the right.}

Chronicle: (thinking) Okay. Take a deep breath.

{Chronicle takes a deep breath, then lets it out.}

Chronicle: (thinking) Take a few more. Tune out all general distractions. Do not fall asleep. Just clear your mind.

{Chronicle takes another deep breath, then lets it out again. Cut to a view of the blue unicorn as the 'camera' pans around him. Slowly, the following disappear with each deep breath; the landscape, then everything outside the "training range", and then the whole training range itself, leaving only Chronicle as he mentally attempts to meditate. Fade to a close-up of Chronicle's head. All of a sudden, his ear perks as if catching something.}

Chronicle: (thinking) Someone's about to attack. I wonder if—no, I must focus should they strike.

{Cut to an overhead view of Chronicle. The 'camera' then tilts upward and pans down so it then eventually ends at his face. Suddenly, he opens his eyes and turns them to his right.}

Chronicle: (thinking) There!

{Entire background returns to normal as everything goes slow-motion. Chronicle's horn glows as he zips to the area immediately behind him with the "flash-step" spell. As he 'steps' away from the 'camera', a rainbow-colored streak slowly passes across where he was a second ago from the left. Time resumes normal speed as a crash is heard from the right.}

Chronicle: Nice tr—ack!

{Chronicle was cut off by a pink streak catching him from the right, sending him off-screen. A crash is then heard from the left. Camera zips to the left to reveal the pouncer having been Pinkie Pie. They had crashed into one of the bales of hay surrounding the "training range".}

**[end screen mode]**

"Oww, you got me, Pinkie Pie.", Chronicle said with a smile. "I'll admit I was lucky with Rainbow Dash."

"That was luck?!", Rainbow asked as she zipped over.

"Yeah. You two make for great reflex practice.", he gave a genuine smile. "Thanks."

"You're most welcome, Chronicle!", replied Pinkie. "I don't think we were even trying to prank you." She turned to Rainbow. "Uhh…what were we supposed to do to him?"

"We just did it. I was wondering if he has a sense of humor."

"You really take me for somepony who doesn't know how to have fun?" Neither mare had an answer for that. "I do too. Pranks are just not my thing."

"Is snarking yours?"

"No. Combat practice is."

"You're one strange pony.", Rainbow said, which resulted in the stallion raising an eyebrow. "Sure. I think I can help with that."

"How?"

"I'm a black belt in karate."

_What?!_, gasped Chronicle mentally. _How does a pony learn karate, let alone master it? Or is "equine" karate slightly different from "sapien" karate?_

He was shaken off his thoughts by Pinkie waving her hoof at his face. "Uhh…Chronicle?"

"Oh, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said I'm a black belt in karate.", Rainbow Dash repeated.

"Oh, that's nice to hear. Although, I'm not sure if a martial artist and a magical warrior like myself is a good match-up. But better than nothing, I guess."

"Let's duel tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure."

C—RD—PP—C—RD—PP—C—RD—PP—C—RD—PP

A few hours later…

Chronicle decided he had enough solo practice for today and decided he would take a walk. He made his way to a stream bend, where he saw Fluttershy tending to several fish and a couple other water-dwellers that began to gather at the bank. As he caught her in her sights, he decided to make his way to her. But instead of walking around, he cast his water-walking spell and started to trot his way across the lake.

As he did, his foot touched something he knew wasn't from the lake; he turned to the left and saw a turtle…which was an obvious fake. He saw that there was a long tube attached to its rear and it trailed back across the stream. As it squeaked a bit, his eyes followed the tube to where it disappeared over a hill on the opposite bank. A telescope was extended up from behind.

On the far side, Rainbow Dash watched the scene through this telescope while Pinkie jumped up and down, a rubber bulb in her teeth, which was attached to the other end of the tube and was providing the noise.

"Is someone over there?", Pinkie asked. "Who are we gonna squirt? Who are we gonna squirt?"

Rainbow snickered before giving an answer. "Fluttershy."

"What?!" Pinkie spit out the bulb. "No, no, no, no, no, no. We can't prank Fluttershy. I mean, she's so sensitive. It'll hurt her feelings, even our most harmless prank."

Rainbow backed up from the scope. "Yeah, you're right." She then blew a raspberry and turned to Pinkie. "Huh. We need another victim who's made of tougher stuff."

She failed to notice Pinkie's struggle to contain a laugh and puts her eye back to the scope for a moment. She backed off again, not realizing there was a ring of ink around her left eye, left by the scope's eyepiece.

"So, who's it gonna be?"

"Oh!" Pinkie gave a giggle. "I've got someone in mind—the toughest around."

"Oh, awesome!" Rainbow Dash looked around. "Who, who? Do I know them? Is it Chronicle? I could swear I saw him walking on the water a while ago."

The two ponies made their way to the bank, but Chronicle wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Oh, yes. You're very close."

As Rainbow looked into her reflection and noticed her inked eye, Chronicle suddenly popped out right next to them, having walked stealthily as they made their way to the water. "Yeah. Very close to a stern beating. Good thing Pinkie Pie has standards. Nice one there, by the way."

The three had a good laugh from the inked eye, then the earth pony and pegasus stopped upon noticing the unicorn, utterly stunned, and their eyes as small as pinpricks.

"I can be stealthy when I want to be.", he said with a chuckle. "And I know how to have fun too. You should've seen the looks on your faces." He then burst out laughing, and was soon followed by the others. He then put his hoof out for a high five, then yanked it back when Rainbow and Pinkie tried to slap it.

"So that means you're—", Pinkie was about to say.

"No. Pranks are still not my thing, I just happened to be in the area. We should go on home."

"Yeah. It's almost sunset. See ya, Chronicle."

"See ya." As the two pranksters left, Chronicle looked over to the other side of the bend. Fluttershy was now alone with the decoy turtle. She cautiously tried to pet it, only to see the head bounce back and forth on its spring, surprising her. _I wonder if I should tell her what it really is? Either way, I should take her home._

C—RD—F—PP—C—RD—F—PP—C—RD—F—PP

Sunrise, the next day…

Just outside Ponyville proper, near Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie Pie trotted down the dirt path beside Chronicle, wearing a pair of joke glasses with a big red nose and droopy mustache attached and blowing on a noisemaker. The earth pony was also wearing the classic "arrow through the head" over her mane.

The unicorn just rolled his eyes as the two of them approached Rainbow Dash's house. It was a house built of clouds and rainbows, sporting a number of Greek-style columns and floated at a very low altitude, but still above their heads. A stream of the variegated light spilt over the edge as a waterfall. Pinkie was here to greet her fellow prankster while Chronicle was here to invite his temporary sparring partner.

"Rise and shine, Rainbow Dash!", Pinkie called out. "It's a brand new day, and we got a lot of pranking to—"

A head poked out, but it wasn't of their friend's, but that of a bald eagle with feathers swept forward on top of the head. It aimed a puzzled and slightly hostile yellow eye toward ground level. "Ooh!"

Three seconds later, Rainbow Dash popped her head up from the roof. "Mornin', Pinks! Mornin', Chronicle!" She then dropped to ground level and addressed the newcomer.

_Good thing she hasn't come up with a nickname for me. If she calls me Chro, I'm smacking her upside._

"Gilda, this is Chronicle and my gal pal Pinkie Pie."

The visitor then descended with a shrill cry, revealing herself to be a griffon—brown-furred lion's body, tail, and hind legs; eagle's head, wings, and talons on the forelegs. All of Pinkie's joke items dropped to the ground when she and Chronicle got a good look at the creature, whose female voice and body language practically screamed "too hip for the room." in the unicorn's mind.

"Hey, what's up?", the griffon greeted.

"Pinkie, Chronicle, this is my griffon friend Gilda.", Rainbow introduced.

"What's a griffon?", Pinkie asked.

Gilda spread her wings in a crouch and jumped toward the three. "She's half eagle, half lion—"

"And all awesome!", Gilda finished as she threw a foreleg around Rainbow's shoulders, who playfully pushed her away. After a playful snarl, the two of them laughed and chattered while trading their particular version of a secret shake. As the pink pony stared with some bewilderment, the unicorn (and only male in the area) put a hoof to his chin.

_Hmm…now where have I seen her before? …Nah, must be another griffon. Met one or five during my other contracts._

"Gilda's my best friend from my days at Junior Speedster Flight Camp.", Rainbow explained, then turned to Gilda. "Hey, remember the chant?"

"Sh'yah. They made us recite it every morning. I'll never get that lame thing out of my head."

"Sooo…?"

The griffon mets her big smile with an unenthusiastic little groan. "Only for you, Dash."

Both rose into the air to do the choreography for the chant. Obviously, Gilda looked like she would rather be doing something else.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=MrToVh_2B_E)

_Now Playing: Junior Speedsters Chant_

_Junior Speedsters are our lives,_  
_Sky-bound soars and daring dives._

The two then landed on the ground.

_Junior Speedsters, it's our quest_  
_To someday be the very best!_

_End Song_

Pinkie's response was to laugh and stomp one hoof on the ground, prompting both Speedster alumni to turn their heads away in embarrassment for a moment. Chronicle just rolled his eyes once more.

"Oh, that was awesome!", Pinkie said. "And it gave me a great idea for a prank!" She shoved her head into the pile of novelties to put them all back in place. "Gilda, you game?"

"Huh. Well, I groove on a good prank as much as the next griffon." Gilda then elbowed Rainbow, spreading her wings. "But, Dash, you promised me we'd get a flying session in this morning." She then lifted off.

"Yeah, uh, well…Pinkie Pie, Chronicle, you don't mind, do you?" Rainbow started to hover. "Gilda just got here. We'll catch up with you later."

"Oh! Um…well, sure, no problem.", Pinkie said as they zoomed off. "Have fun, you guys! I'll, uh, just catch up with you…" She then sighed dejectedly and sat back on her haunches. "…later."

As the noisemaker in her mouth sounded off weakly, Chronicle was still waving at them. "See ya."

C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- In the outskirts of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Chronicle down on the lower left corner of the screen, and Rainbow Dash and Gilda flying on the top right corner of the screen. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G

Later…

Chronicle was up at the Request Board once again, looking for something to do. Beside him was an earth pony mare with a cyan coat, white mane styled like Bon Bon's, magenta eyes, and two linked horseshoes as a cutie mark.

"Hi, Linky.", he greeted. "What'cha lookin' for?"

"It's Shoeshine.", corrected the earth pony. "And I'm looking for—ooh, here it is!"

Chronicle decided to take a peek and saw that— "It's a requesting part-time help at…moving some crates? Shoeshine, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. I could use the extra bits."

"But aren't you a little…"

"I'm an earth pony. Physical labor is generally easier for us than pegasi or unicorns."

"That's true, I guess. Well, see ya."

"See ya."

Once Shoeshine was gone, Chronicle was back in his thoughts. "Hmm…now what was I…oh, right." He then 'took out' a scroll of paper from "hammerspace" and 'rolled' it open.

It was a request ordering for a "good" training dummy, preferably one like the type the royal guards of Canterlot use, "if they use any at all". The reward was high as he didn't know how much it may be, if there even was.

Chronicle then 'procured' a nail and hammer, noting these didn't seem to be perfectly (but still) usable for ponies (outside unicorn telekinesis). With the two items, he 'nailed' his request on the Request Board, then 'took out' another.

This one was for a combat session/spar with him. Whoever was interested would engage in combat with him; and they would receive a reward after, with a sizable bonus should they win. Chronicle didn't write down the victory or defeat conditions, but he had them down in his head; if any of them breaks a bone or draws blood, the one with the injury loses. He'll also stop the fight should his challenger be too tired to go on, even if they insist they continue. In that case, depending on how well they fought, he'll also reward them with more bits, but never reaching the 'victory' bonus amount.

After 'taking out' another nail from "hammerspace", and using it and the hammer to nail his second request, another pony came up to the board and looked at the requests. Chronicle turned to see a purple unicorn stallion (a shade darker than his charge Twilight) with lime green eyes, hair in two dark shades of blue, a conservatively-shaped mane, a slightly messed-up tail longer than his own, a red ascot around his neck, and a a cutie mark consisting of a yellow-outlined red knight's shield depicting a white star inside. He seemed to be looking at the job application request Mystic Shield had put up.

Curious, Chronicle walked up to the unicorn and tried to strike up a conversation. "Hey, you seem interested in that job."

The unicorn turned to him and made a face, something Chronicle found suspicious, but couldn't put a hoof on. "Yeah.", he agreed in a deep yet gentle voice. "You too?"

"Uh-huh. In spite of the obvious peace in Ponyville, I have a…slight lust for battle. Also, I'm a little disappointed in how defenseless these ponies can be."

"I know how you feel.", he replied. "To live in a completely peaceful world, a world that can be left completely vulnerable should invaders attack, be they dragons, griffons, beings from the stars, or what have you. I wish for everypony to be capable of defending themselves should that time come. Alas, I am but one unicorn."

"Yeah. Me too. But together, as soon as the Self-Defense Academy is up, we can be at least one step closer to achieving that dream. Ain't that right, …Mystic Shield?"

"Yeah…" Three seconds later, the purple unicorn widened his eyes in shock and shook his head vigorously. "Wait a minute! How do you know my name?!"

"To tell the truth, I just guessed it."

The purple unicorn gave a short chuckle. "Well, you guessed right. I am Mystic Shield. Mind if I ask what's yours?"

"It's Chronicle. Nice to meet you, Mystic Shield.", Chronicle offered a hoof in greeting.

"Mystic works just fine, although Master Shield should be what you should address me once the dojo's up.", Mystic replied as he took the hoof and shook it.

"Aren't we getting a little too early for that?"

"You got a point there. Well, I'll keep the request up in case others wish to help. I'm gonna put an ad once we finish setting up."

"You wanna start now?"

"Tomorrow. The ponies I hired still need to finish unpacking my stuff. I just moved here."

"Well, you better be careful in that case."

"Why is that, might I ask?"

"Two words: Pinkie Pie." Chronicle then turned to leave. "Well, see ya. I live at the Books and Branches Library."

"Nice meeting you, Chronicle."

"You too, Mystic."

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

After his talk with Mystic Shield, he returned to the library, where Pinkie Pie was having a conversation with Twilight Sparkle, who was reading a book and flipping pages with magic. Spike was on the stairs, reading a different book.

"So, Pinkie Pie…", Twilight said. "…are you sure that this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?"

"Um, yeah!", Pinkie replied as she continued to pace. "She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away, she popped my balloons, and she told me to buzz off! I've never met a griffon this mean! Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all. But I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda!"

"You know what I think, Pinkie Pie?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I think…you're jealous."

"Jealous?!"

"Green with envy.", Spike put in. "Well, in your case, pink with envy."

"Well, yes, jealous.", agreed Twilight. "Listen, Pinkie. I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend doesn't make Gilda a grump."

"I'll have to agree with her.", said Chronicle. "I mean, this is a childhood friend we're talking about here. They haven't met for quite some time, and I'm sure they're just catching up on old times."

"I mean, perhaps it's **you**, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."

The sole stallion turned to the pink earth pony and saw that the idea seemed to sit very badly in her brain under that fluffy magenta mane.

"Improve my attitude?", Pinkie said, stammering. "But I—but it's Gilda that—are you seri—" She then gave up on the discussion with a frustrated yell and stalked out, slamming the library door hard enough to shake the whole building. Twilight sighed as she and Spike traded a very worried glance.

"I gotta go.", said Chronicle as he opened the door. "I wanna know a bit more about Gilda. I want to assure myself that she won't cause trouble as I know griffons to have a general animosity against ponies."

"How do you know about griffons?", Twilight asked.

"Remember, I've been through lots of stuff before I became your bodyguard. Maybe you should read up on them." And with that, he followed Pinkie out of the library, although he nearly lost her. After a while, he found his way to the park and located her.

As he approached the pink earth pony, he heard her say, "Maybe Twilight is right. Maybe Gilda isn't a big mean grumpy mean meanie-pants. Maybe I'm just a big jealous judgmental jealous jealousy-pants." She then sighed.

"Pinkie.", Chronicle called and she turned to face him. "You obviously didn't tell Twilight everything in your fit of frustration. I'm sure she wouldn't have said what she had said had she understood better." _Whoa. I think I almost twisted my tongue there._ "Mind telling me?"

"Okay."

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

Sometime later…

"So that's what happened…"

The two ponies were now sipping an ice cream soda each at an outdoor table. The table was situated close to a building whose roof resembled a heavily decorated gingerbread house with two cupcakes stacked on top. There were candy-striped columns on either side of its two-part door, and iced-gingerbread fences by the flowerbeds, a sign marked with a cupcake hanging near one window, a water pump and trough stand at the opposite side, a weather vane and violet rock-candy projection at one end of the roof, and two upper stories decorated to resemble a pair of stacked cupcakes, with candles on the topmost one. According to Pinkie Pie, this was Sugarcube Corner, a bakery where she's employed in.

"Yeah."

"Well, judging by your story, it seems to me you're indeed jealous of her taking Rainbow Dash."

"But—"

"However, I can see that Gilda's either really a meanie-pants, or she's also jealous of **you** taking her. …Hold on. We don't normally wear clothes to begin with, do we?"

Just then, the sound of an overhead flight and two unmistakable laughing voices caused Pinkie to nearly upset both the table and her drink. Chronicle just looked up to see two familiar faces.

"That was sweet!", they heard Gilda say.

"Ugh.", replied Rainbow Dash as they flew among the rooftops. "…I gotta take care of a few weather jobs around here. Shouldn't take long." They then landed on the ground. "Just, uh, hang out in town and I'll come find you."

"That's cool, I guess. I'm gonna go chow down."

"Later!"

After Rainbow has flown away, Gilda looked around, then locked her eyes on a produce cart tended to by Lightning Bolt. Granny Smith was coming over to check out ears of corn. Chronicle then saw the griffon sneak into the cart and pop out her tail from the display, prompting a terrified scream from the old mare.

"A rattler! A rattler!", Granny yelled. "Run for the hills!" She proceeded to flee quickly as her creaky joints will allow—that is, not very. "Everybody run, save yourselves!"

Gilda then put her head up behind the display to see her handiwork, and Lightning gave her a puzzled look. Those looks were shared by Bon Bon and Amethyst Star, who were in the area.

Gilda then patted her tail on a tomato in the stand and said to Lightning, "This stuff ain't fresh, dude."

Pinkie, at her table, saw the whole thing alongside her friend. "Aw, poor Granny Smith!", she said. "She didn't know it was a joke. How mean!…No, no. I can't misjudge her. It was kind of a funny prank…I guess?"

"No matter how I look at it, pulling pranks on seniors is a crime in my book.", voiced Chronicle. "They could get a heart attack and…"

Just then, Gilda stopped at another produce cart. Medley was tending to it and Bon Bon and Shoeshine were customers. With a quick look back and forth, the griffon filched an apple using her tail without being noticed, then quickly consumed it with one chomp as she continued on.

Pinkie gasped angrily at this while Chronicle seemed slightly peeved. "I did misjudge her!", Pinkie said. "She's not only a meanie mean-pants, she's also a thief!…No, no, no, no, no. She might give it back. It's just a joke."

"Is it?", asked Chronicle. "I can tolerate one theft, but if she does a repeat offense, old friend of Rainbow Dash or not, I'll have to bring her to justice."

Just then, they saw Fluttershy walking backwards her eyes fixed on a family of ducks she was escorting down the street. "All right, little ones.", she said "This way, this way. Mama Duck, you're free and clear."

Surrounding ponies watched from where they stood…and none of them even warned her of Gilda's approach from the opposite direction until Fluttershy's rump collided with the half-avian's white-feathered crest.

"Hey!", the griffon demanded.

"Please excuse me."

"I'm walkin' here!"

Fluttershy began to back up, scared "Oh…um…I'm sorry…I-I-I was just trying to—"  
Gilda cut her off and mocked her tone. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She then viciously advanced as the ducks scattered. "Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

"But…b-b-but…I…I…"

The griffon sucked in a double lungful of air and let out a deafening roar directly into the meek pegasus's face. There was dead silence except for a sheep's bleat, which gave way to Fluttershy's sobbing as she fled the scene first on hooves and then by wings.

Chronicle could see everypony in the area stare in shock (as well as Cloud Kicker's eyes going askew) from this as something in his mind snapped. Pinkie saw all of this as well, including Gilda's run up to make sure she was gone.

"Ugh! Please.", Gilda then said as everypony (including Cloud) looked at her in disdain. "All these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail." Just before she could fly off, she was tackled by something. As they began to roll along the dirt road, Gilda saw that her attacker was Chronicle, who looked straight up angry.

"Pranking a senior is one thing.", he declared as he stopped right on top of her. "Stealing without needing to is another. But scaring off Fluttershy like that, you've gone **too far**!"

Gilda kicked him off of her with her lion paw hind-legs. "So what, dweeb? You think you can just take me on?"

Chronicle swiftly got up on his feet in one smooth movement. "I'd love to see what a griffon can do." Quickly, he took out a lasso he borrowed from Applejack the other day and tied up the griffon. He then cast a spell on his legs and enhanced his speed, and then ran in a certain direction, taking the griffon with him and ignoring the reactions from the townsfolk.

In seconds, he made it to his "training range", where he tossed Gilda to. She slammed into the library wall, where she fell to the ground, then proceeded to snap the rope off of her. Chronicle entered the "training range" after her.

"What's the big idea, punk?!", Gilda demanded as she prepared to charge.

"Have you not even looked at yourself, Gilda?!", Chronicle demanded as he readied his "magic horn blade". "Or are griffons generally this nasty to ponies?!"

"What do you care?!"

"What do I care?! I don't know what past you got with Rainbow Dash, but I'm not gonna tolerate bullies of your degree 'round here!"

"…I don't know what kind of gibberish you just spouted right now, but I'm gonna teach you a lesson!"

"It's you who needs a lesson learnt!"

Simultaneously, the two quadrupeds charged right for each other.

C—RD—F—PP—G—C—RD—F—PP—G—C—RD—F—PP—G

The fight was very rough, but against Chronicle's expectations, Gilda emerged victorious. The unicorn held back because he did not want to injure her too much, whereas the griffon was extremely relentless and did not go easy in the slightest. It was only after creating some moderate gashes in his body (as well as a scratch in the face) did she stop.

They had exchanged blows in their bout, "horn blade" and talons countering one another, Gilda taking advantage of her flight, Chronicle trying to rack up his memory on what to do against flying foes. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to recall much and was trounced. He couldn't remember what Gilda said to him as he lay on the ground trying to regain consciousness, but he was sure it was an insult. Once she was gone, he struggled to get up.

"Oww…I'm really gonna need that spar with Rainbow Dash.", he complained to himself. (3)

"Chronicle!", a voice called. He struggled to turn and saw that it was Mystic Shield, who wore a pair of saddlebags. They were colored purple and the buckles depicted the white star in Mystic's cutie mark.

"Mystic.", Chronicle greeted back.

"What happened to you?!"

"Picked a fight with a griffon. Ended up regretting it."

"You're hurt!"

"What gave it away, huh?"

"Snarky, aren't we?" Mystic then 'took out' a bandage (which was wrapped in a light green aura) and 'put' it on Chronicle's face.

"I guess."

"Tell you what? I'll take you to my home and perhaps we can talk for a bit."

"Sure. I could use some guy talk."

"Guy talk?"

"Aside from a baby dragon named Spike, the rest of my friends are girls."

"Feeling awkward?"

"Yeah…sometimes."

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- On the left side of the screen is a defeated Chronicle in his "training range" and on the right is a triumphant Gilda in the same place. On the upper right is the show's logo.

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Half an hour later…

Chronicle, was walking beside Mystic Shield as the former found himself telling the latter everything he knows about his friends.

"Oh, so you confronted Nightmare Moon in battle?", Mystic said. "And your friends are the keepers of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah." Chronicle calls them in his head "E.O.H. keepers" for short. "Although only Ponyville and Canterlot Castle know."

"Why'd you confide this information with me? For all you can tell, I might be a spy."

"Uhh…"

"But don't worry. You heard my little monologue back at the Request Board, right? Oh, here we are."

The two unicorn stallions stopped in front of a house. It looked like one of many in Ponyville, except it was bigger, and it had a sign nailed on top of the doorway, which was a pair of double doors. The sign depicted some characters he was familiar with, but couldn't understand them.

_Darn. I should've studied my Japanese better. I know that's what it is, but what does it say? How is it that Equestria has the same languages as—_

"Come on in.", Mystic said, interrupting Chronicle's thoughts. Just before they could reach the door, he stopped short. "Wait a second."

"Huh?"

"One of your friends, Pinkie Pie. She likes to host parties, right?"

"Yeah?"

Mystic then opened the door, revealing a pitch-black expanse. "And you told me she posted a party for you, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike in the library, right?"

"Right?"

"And you told me earlier to be careful, right?"

"Just where are you going with this?", asked Chronicle as the two unicorns walked in.

"I'm saying that I think something's bound to happen right about—"

He was cut off by the lights being turned on—revealing a lot of ponies, many of whom blew on noisemakers in their mouths. Streamers hung from the upper reaches of the room, which was supposed to be reminiscent of a karate dojo. However, there were now loads of table and a full-on shindig was about to get started.

"SURPRISE!", they all cried out.

Confetti rained down over the two, and a party favor was blown out in front of Mystic Shield, who gave a small smirk. As the party went in full swing, Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere.

"Surprise!", she yelled. "Hi. I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!" She began to hop around. "Were you surprised? Were you, were you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"To tell the truth, I've been warned a bit, but I still appreciate the party."

"Yippee! I'm glad you like it!"

"Oh, yeah. I remember seeing you when I first came into town. You were looking for somepony named Rainbow Dash. However, upon seeing me, you then zoomed off."

"That's what she did when we first arrived.", Chronicle put in.

Mystic then put a hoof on Pinkie's mouth, stopping her from saying anything else. "You don't have to ramble on how you never saw me, meaning I'm new, because you know everypony in Ponyville. And that if I'm new, I probably haven't met anyone yet, that I probably don't have any friends, and that I probably must be lonely, making you sad. Or on how you then had an idea and decided to throw this welcome party for me and invite everypony in Ponyville so I can have lots and lots of friends. Did I miss anything?" Once he was finished speaking, Pinkie was uncharacteristically silent with shock. "Chronicle here told me all about **his** welcome party."

With that, Pinkie lightened up. "I see! Wanna party?"

"Be my guest. Wait. Actually, I am a guest."

Pinkie giggled at this and said, "You're so funny. Come on." She then pulled Mystic somewhere as the party continued. (4)

C—PP—MS—C—PP—MS—C—PP—MS—C—PP—MS

A while later…

As the party continued to…happen, Pinkie Pie now stood at the front door, where Chronicle saw Shoeshine enter. The stallion was standing with the rest of his friends, who have been invited as well. He had been patched up with a couple of white bandages thanks to Mystic Shield and was already in better shape.

"Welcome!", Pinkie said to her. "Welcome! Welcome!"

"Who's this Gilda I've heard nothin' about?", Applejack asked Rarity.

"I hear she's an old friend of Rainbow Dash, a griffon. So rare."

"Yeah. A rare pain in the—" Chronicle was cut off by somepony bumping into him, hitting right into one of his bandages. He cringed in pain. "Oww…"

"You've met Gilda, right?", Twilight Sparkle asked Fluttershy, who seemed to be feeling better. "What's she like?"

"Oh…um, well…I'll tell you later, Twilight." The yellow pegasus then approached Pinkie as Minuette and Golden Harvest were greeted. At around the same time, Chronicle did the same thing.

"Welcome!", Pinkie greeted. "Welcome!"

"Um, Pinkie Pie, about this party for Gilda—um, do you really think it's a good idea? I mean—"

"Yeah.", agreed Chronicle. "Are you really sure about—"

"Don't worry your pretty little heads about mean old Gilda." Pinkie cut them both off, then knocked them on the head. "Your auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of."

She failed to notice that her response has left both of them rather vexed, and she turned back toward the door without bothering to hear their responses.

"I'm a year older than you.", said the pegasus.

"And I'm two years your senior.", said the unicorn.

Just then, Gilda entered and Pinkie jumped over to greet her. "Gilda! I'm so honored to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties! Well, It's also a welcome party for somepony else. But anyway, I really, truly, sincerely hope you feel welcome here amongst all us pony folk."

Pinkie then held out a hoof and gave a big grin. Gilda reluctantly shook the hoof—and received a full-body electric shock that sent the griffon tottering to the floor—and put an even bigger grin on the pink pony's face. Chronicle spied a joy buzzer attached to Pinkie's hoof as she laughed over the stunt and Gilda got upright with a scowl.

Rainbow Dash also laughed as she trotted over to the pair. "Oh, Pinkie Pie!", she said. "The old hoof-shake buzzer! You are a scream!"

Gilda forced a smile and chuckled. "Yeah. Uh, good one, Pinkie Pie."

Rainbow began to trot off. "Come on, G. I'll introduce you to some of my other friends."

"Right behind you, Dash!" Once the pegasus was out of earshot, the griffon turned to Pinkie menacingly. "I know what you're up to."

Pinkie was still smiling. "Great!"

Gilda gave an exasperated groan. "I know what you're planning!"

Pinkie just giggled. "Well, I hope so. This wasn't supposed to be a surprise party. Well, not for you, anyway."

"I mean, I've got my eye on you." Pinkie then leaned directly into her face.

"And I got my eye on you." At this line, she bulged her eyes out comically on this line, then backed off to leave one rather bemused bad girl standing alone. Now standing amid the crowd, Pinkie announced, "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash." She then zoomed in to hug her. "Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville."

As she zipped away, Gilda shot a hairy eyeball after her, but quickly traded it in for a smile as the other guests cheered and Rainbow Dash threw a hoof around her shoulders.

"Please help yourself." Pinkie said as she stood next to a bowl of candy. Mystic Shield was there, levitating—

"Vanilla lemon drops!", said Gilda as she picked up one with her talons. "Don't mind if I do."

At the same time, both griffon and purple unicorn tossed their snacks into their mouths. Instantly, Gilda squinched her entire face up in pain as steam whistled out from her ears and sweat sprayed from her face. She promptly let go with a fiery belch akin to a dragon breath. Pinkie then picked up a stick in her teeth so she can roast the marshmallow impaled on it in the flames before they died down.

"Now where did that marshmallow come from?", Mystic asked himself.

"HOT!", gasped Gilda.

"G!", Rainbow called out. "The punch!"

Gilda raced past her, and took a full glass from one of the tables. She then gulped it hastily…or so she thought; as it turned out, the punch was leaking out of a hole in the glass.

There were laughs from everypony. "Well, what do you know?", said Pinkie. "Pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!"

Rainbow chuckled. "Priceless. Priceless!" She laughed as Gilda zipped across the room and successfully downed another glass, gasping for breath.

"Yeah. Hilarious.", Gilda said sarcastically.

Back at the lemon drops, Mystic turned to Chronicle. "There was pepper in the vanilla lemon drops?", he asked.

"Yeah. Got my tongue burnt by one of them." The blue unicorn stuck out his tongue in disgust. "I hate spicy foods. And bitter. And sour. That bowl's filled with them. How are you…"

"I can tolerate all things spicy. Just don't make me taste a rainbow, though." (5)

"Huh?"

Before Mystic could reply, they were cut off when they heard Rainbow Dash call out, "Hey, G!" as she stood by a table stacked with gifts. "Look! Presents!"

Greed brought the griffon over in a trice. Mystic trotted over as the griffon grabbed one and pulled its ribbon with her beak, only to have a mass of 'snakes' pop out in her face. Mystic jumped at the "snake can" trick, which left Gilda dazed and disheveled. There was more laughter from everypony in the party.

"Spittin' snakes!", Applejack said to Rarity. "Somepony pulled that prank on me last month."

"Ha, ha.", said Gilda. "I bet I know who that was."

"You do?", Pinkie asked.

Mystic 'took' another one of the presents, a cube-shaped one, and 'shook' it. It started to rattle, then its top popped off as it revealed itself to be a jack-in-the-box, startling Mystic as he gave a girlish scream. This earned him a collective laugh from everypony.

As Chronicle watched from where he stood, Pinkie suddenly popped out of nowhere. "Hey there, Chronicle!", she greeted as she held a present on her back. "I'd like you to have this! Don't open it until your birthday, okay?" She then tossed it up into the air and zoomed off. The blue unicorn 'caught' it, verified it wasn't a prank, then decided to keep his promise.

"Okay, Pinkie.", he said as he then 'stored' the present into his "hammerspace pocket".

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—G—MS

A third of an hour later…

Fluttershy had invited a group of birds, lined them up on a ledge, and was directing them in a song. Of course, she asked for Mystic Shield's permission, who granted it as long as she'll clean up any waste or mess they make afterward.

Just then, Pinkie Pie came over with a cake loaded with lit candles. "Cake time, everypony!", she said as she pushed the cake on a wheeled platform to the center of the floor.

Spike, who was late to the party because of some errands for Twilight, walked up to it. "Hey! Can I blow out the candles?", he asked.

"Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike?", Twilight suggested. "She is the guest of honor, after all."

"Don't you mean Mystic Shield?", Chronicle asked. "This is **his** house we're partying in. And **he's** the one Pinkie is throwing this party for."

"Oh, I don't mind.", Mystic said. "Give the griffon a go."

Said griffon then flashed over, elbowing Spike away, her feathers back in order. "Exactly!" She then took a deep breath, blew out all the candles—and then is greatly perplexed to see them all relight themselves. Another try left her slightly winded and earned a round of laughs, even Mystic, when the wicks blazed back up. Several more attempts got the same result.

"Relighting birthday candles!", Spike laughed. "I love that prank! What a classic!"

"Now I wonder who could've done that?", Pinkie asked herself.

"Yeah. I wonder.", snarked Gilda as Spike gobbled/tunneled himself into the cake.

"Who cares?", asked Spike, his voice muffled by cake. "This cake is amazing!" At the end of this, he popped out through the top, scattering frosting and candles everywhere.

"Spike!", Twilight scolded him.

"What? It's great! Try some."

"Don't mind if I do.", said Mystic as he levitated a plate and fork so he could serve himself. This bit of gluttony started to work Gilda's last good nerve as Rainbow Dash came over.

"Hey, G.", she said. "You're not upset about some silly candles, are you?"

Gilda composed herself. "No way, Dash. Like I said, I'm down with a good prank."

Rainbow then zipped right next to Mystic, who was taking a bite out of his slice. "Come on, then. Let's have some cake."

"Hey, are you all right?", Twilight asked Chronicle as she stroked at the bandage on his face, making him wince.

"What?", he replied as he gave a sidelong glance at Pinkie, who was now behind the cake. "Only noticed this just now? Relax. It's just a catscratch." He gave a reassuring smile as he lied. "I get these all the time whenever I accept a cat-finding request at the Request Board."

"That doesn't explain the other wounds." Twilight pointed at the other bandages.

"That cat did a number on me. And was much more dangerous than last time."

"Hey, y'all!", called Applejack. "It's Pin the Tail on the Pony!"

The two turned to see that she's near the door. A paper pony tail lay before her, and a drawing of the tailless animal was tacked up on the wall.

"Let's play!"

"Oh, my favorite game!", said Rarity. "Can I go first? Can I have the purple tail?"

"No way.", Mystic argued as he 'took' the tail. "This party's for me, so I should very well get it."

Gilda leaped for him with intent to snatch the tail, but was barred by a green force field from Mystic. She quickly got up and walked over to him. "I am the guest of honor, and **I'll** have the purple tail.", she said.

"Fine. Here you go." Mystic levitated the tail to Gilda's expectant talon. "You could've just asked."

"Yeah!", Pinkie agreed. "Gilda should definitely go first." Spike then produced a blindfold and walked over. "Let's get you blindfolded."

"Hey!", Gilda protested as Spike tied the cloth over her eyes and jumped off her back. "What are you doing?" She then gave a snarl as Pinkie grabbed hold of her and gave a heave that set her spinning, then backed away.

"We're spinning you around and around, and then you can pin the tail on the pony."

Once Gilda stopped spinning, feeling giddy, Pinkie guided the griffon right to the tail. "Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail."

"Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail.", Gilda parroted mockingly, then gave a snort. "Yeah, right. This is another prank, isn't it?" She then walked away from wall. "I'm going this way."

"Wait! The poster is this—"

One taloned foot came down in a splotch of frosting to send Gilda skidding and yelling across the room, straight through the bat-wing doors leading into what was apparently the kitchen. The resulting crash shook the entire house, and as clouds of flour puffed out, Gilda emerged a weary, bleary wreck, smeared with cake and various other sweet stuff. The blindfold was off, and the tail hung across her beak like a mustache.

"Uh, Gilda?", Pinkie attempted to make a joke. "You pinned the tail on the wrong end."

The ensuing round of laughter was the very last straw for the luckless griffon, who threw off all the gunk with a bellowing roar and hovered above the crowd.

"This is your idea of a good time?", she cried out. "I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life! And Pinkie Pie…you!" She pointed in Pinkie's face, then leaned to her. "You are Queen Lame-o with your weak little party pranks! Did you really think you could make me lose my cool?" She then slid to Rainbow Dash. "Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together!" She failed to notice her friend's face hardens. "Come on, Dash." Gilda walked to the door. "We're bailing on this pathetic scene." The pegasus did not stir a hoof even as her old friend stopped at the door. "Come on, Rainbow Dash! I said, we're leaving!"

Not a single face was smiling anymore, not even Pinkie.

"You know, Gilda, **I** was the one who set up all those 'weak' pranks at this party."

This proved to be a direct hit to Gilda. "What?!"

"Ooh!", Pinkie said.

"So I guess **I'm** Queen Lame-o. "

"Come on, Dash! You're joshing me!"

"They weren't all meant for you specifically. It was just dumb luck that you set them all off."

"And I was actively trying to find them before you did.", put in Mystic.

"You were?", Chronicle whispered to him.

Pinkie gave a smile to Spike. "I shoulda known! That dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it."

"No way!" Gilda was in denial. "I-It was Pinkie Pie! She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me!"

Pinkie seemed to be genuinely surprised at this. "Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude." She then turned her head until her face was upside down. "I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down."

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself.", Rainbow added. "You know, this is not how I thought my old friend would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new cool friends someplace else."

The recipient of this tongue lashing snarled to herself and spread her wings. "Yeah? Well…you…you…you are such an…a flip-flop! Cool one minute and lame the next." Gilda proceeded to walk out "When you decide not to be lame anymore, give me a call." The door was slammed and her shrill cry was heard to mark her departure.

"Not cool."

"Wow. Talk about a party-pooper.", said Spike and there were general murmurs of agreement.

"I'm sorry, everypony, for bringing Gilda here. I didn't know how rude she was. And, Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."

"A-hem.", Mystic cut in. "It's my party too, you know."

"Yeah, that too."

Pinkie just gave a smile. "Hey, if you want to hang out with party-poopers, that's your business. "

"I'd rather hang out with you." Rainbow then held out hoof to shake. "No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings."

The moment they shook, both of them got a jolt that started the whole crowd laughing—save for one pony—and the two pranksters joined in, turning over their hooves to reveal a joy buzzer on each."

"Hey, Pinkie.", Twilight said as she walked over. "Sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks like I'm the one who misjudged you.

Pinkie put a foreleg around her shoulders. "It's okay, Twilight. Even you can't be a super-smart smarty smart-pants all the time." Pinkie then turned to the crowd, half-rearing-half-jumping excitedly. "Come on, everypony! There's still a whole lotta party to finish! We still got Mystic Shield as our guest of honor!"

There was laughter and cheers as Twilight gave a thoughtful smile, ideas for her next letter already underway.

The one pony who didn't resume laughing was Chronicle, who seemed to be deeply regretting something. _Oh no. What have I done? What have I done?_ Mystic Shield noticed and walked over.

"What's wrong?"

"You might call me crazy for this, but…I feel like I just ruined someone's life, possibly for life."

"You mean Gilda?" Mystic asked as the two watched Spike ride on Cloud Kicker and tie the blindfold around her eyes.

"Yeah. At first, she seemed to be just a mere obscene jerk to me, but then I realize that it could be as easily just the griffon in her acting up. From what I've managed to learn about them from books and personal experience, griffons have a deep-seated and irrational animosity to ponies that they have to train themselves to control. They also mate for life, and should they lose them, they quickly waste away from longing."

"Hold on. Let me guess where you're going with this; you think Gilda has a **much** closer bond with Rainbow Dash than we all thought?"

"That's what I'm afraid of."

As the two talked, Rainbow came over. "Hey, Chronicle. Think you're up for a spar tomorrow?"

Chronicle gave a weak smile after realizing that Rainbow had taken into account his injuries that meant he was in no shape to spar for the rest of the day. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"What's wrong?", Rainbow then asked as neither of them noticed Mystic get pulled off somewhere by Pinkie.

"I know this might sound odd coming from me, but…oh, never mind. We'll talk during our spar." _It's about Gilda. I want to know more about her past with you, and I want you to perhaps try talking to her again. I don't want any of us to be responsible for wasting away a life we have no clue about._

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—G—MS

After the party, just before his scheduled spar with Rainbow Dash…

Chronicle was in the library looking up a book about griffons, while Twilight Sparkle was writing her friendship report.

"Dearest Princess Celestia,", she began. "Today I learned that it's hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice. Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who is true will surely come to light. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

As she then 'rolled up' the scroll, Chronicle noticed her 'take up' a bottle of what he remembered was disappearing ink. As he paused from his reading and walked over, he saw her 'place' a sticker over the disappearing ink to hide the fact that it was so.

"You plan to send that to the Princess?", he asked her.

"Of course. It's Tuesday today."

"I meant the ink."

"Oh, that? Well, I thought I'd try it out after Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pulled off that one on me yesterday."

"I see. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

Twilight then called for Spike as she 'put' the disappearing ink within the rolled-up letter. She then 'gave' the letter to him and he blew his green fire over it, sending it over to Princess Celestia.

Chronicle could only guess as to what Celestia's reaction was as he continued to read his book.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

nightelf37: Apologies for seemingly ending on a bad note, but while Gilda certainly deserves the lecture, we don't know just how different griffons are from ponies. We don't know just how much of Gilda's behavior was griffon instincts and how much was real jerkass attitude. I guess it's because I read Mothers by Johnathan Spires (a.k.a. KnightMysterio in here, known for his MLP/TF2 crossover _Waking Nightmares_). *sniff* Such a beautiful story. I wonder if I could implement it somehow or… no, I couldn't. I can only allude.

(1) For that tongue thing and sugar cube thing, those are supposed ways for curing the hiccups.  
(2) To tell the truth, the reason I introduced those two pegasus ponies in the beginning of the chapter was so I wouldn't have to describe them on-scene in the part where Gilda acts like a jerk in the marketplace.  
(3) Yeh, I know I skipped what could potentially be a good fight scene, but I was too lazy. And besides, Gilda had to be visibly unscathed for the party.  
(4) I changed the 'venue' from Sugarcube Corner to Mystic Shield's home/dojo.  
(5) Yeah, "taste the rainbow". Allusions to _Sonic Rainboom_.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	6. Chapter 8: Look Before You Sleep

Pinkie Pie: So, uhh…what's next?

nightelf37: What do you mean "what's next?"

Pinkie: "You obviously aren't going through this by episode air dates, duh!"

nightelf37: Damn right I'm not.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

Pinkie: But you haven't told me what episode you'll be doing.

nightelf37: You'll see it after this. In any case, any scene Chronicle does not witness is described to him by others later.

Pinkie: What's that supposed to mean?

nightelf37: None of your business, Pinkie.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM –SCFIM

**Chapter 8: Look Before You Sleep**

It was a sunny day in Ponyville–but today wasn't the day for that. According to the weather management team, there was supposed to be some light rain last week, but they accidentally forgot about that. To make up for it, it was decided that a downpour would be made today. Chronicle still had a few problems comprehending the fact that weather was manually managed in Equestria, with the Everfree Forest being the only place where it occurs 'naturally'.

As he walked about, he watched the ponies do their work; pushing in clouds for the oncoming storm, picking up fallen branches, pruning loose ones, the latter of which he pitched in with his "magic horn blade". While slicing down one bough, something caught his eye. Something that clearly wasn't helping in the town effort.

As he bypassed Applejack, who was pulling down a tree limb with her lasso, he saw Rarity levitating a broken bough upward and reattaching it at the point where it came loose. As she eyed it with great concentration, she gave a short grunt, then lightened up with an idea. Her horn glowed sapphire blue and the bough's leaves instantly styled themselves into a pair of rearing-filly topiaries.

"Perfect!", she said.

"Indeed.", agreed Chronicle as he came over. "If there wasn't a storm coming our way." His statement was followed by a lasso snagging the end and snapping the whole thing loose again. It landed in front of the two unicorns, who aim their gaze–Rarity's disbelieving–at Applejack, who then spit out the rope end, and was obviously not in good spirits.

"Just take the broken limbs down, Rarity.", Applejack said. "Don't y'all care about nothin' other than prettifyin'?"

"Somepony has to. You are making an absolute mess of the town square, Applejack."

"Yeah, well, the storm's gonna make an even bigger mess if we don't prune all these loose branches so they don't tumble down on anypony."

Rarity looked up at the sky as pegasi moved more clouds in to plug the holes and block the last of the sun. "I simply cannot imagine why the pegasus ponies would schedule a dreadful downpour this evening and ruin what could have been a glorious sunny day."

"Please, let's be practical here.", said Chronicle as Applejack bucked a tree to shake down a couple more loose branches. "According to the weather management, there was supposed to be a sprinkle last week. But they skipped it by accident, so to compensate they decided on making this downpour." Just then, as if on cue, the rain began to fall.

"Oh, no!", Rarity began to complain. "My wonderfully styled mane shall be ruined!"

"You shoulda hurried up and finished the job already.", Applejack said as the prissy unicorn cried out and tried to duck every raindrop that came her way.

"It's coming down too fast! …Help me!"

Applejack looked to each side for shelter, locating only a picnic table. "Uh, there! Hunker down to your heart's content whilst I finish things.

Rarity galloped across the square, but suddenly skid to a stop by the table, which had a sizable puddle underneath. "Ooh! No, no, no!"

"What now?", Applejack asked as she and Chronicle joined her.

"I'd prefer not to get my hooves muddy."

"Suit yourself.", said Chronicle as he got under the table. "You can always clean up later." While he didn't mind getting wet, he wasn't about to let himself catch a cold. However, a barrier spell just to keep out the rain would be too much of a waste for him, and he had forgotten about umbrellas until seeing a particular pegasus pony with three of them as her cutie mark. She had a light yellow coat, orchidish gray hair, orange eyes, and her name was Parasol. _I better add an umbrella to my list of items to add in my "hammerspace pocket"._

Applejack grunted disgustedly. "There is just no pleasin' you, is there? Everything's gotta be just so."

"Well, and how does muddying my hooves serve any useful purpose?", Rarity countered.

"Y'all wouldn't know useful if it came up and bit you."

Rarity gave a laugh. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Does so!"

"Does not."

"Does so!"

"Does not."

"Does so, infinity! Hah!"

"Does not, infinity **plus one**."

Chronicle almost smacked himself in the face with his hoof before remembering it was muddied. He looked at the two ponies as they began to glare daggers at each other for a long, tense moment.

Rarity was the first to break the silence. "What say we go our separate ways before one of us says something she will regret?"

"I reckon y'all are gonna say something you'll regret first!"

"On the contrary, I believe it shall most certainly be you who says something you will regret first."

"I'm not sayin' anythin'!"

"Nor am I!"

"Y'all just be on your way, then!"

"After you!"

They slowly backed away from each other in opposite directions, neither taking their eyes off the other the whole time. There came a sudden crack of lightning, and they were back where they started with a cry of fear, hugging each other tightly and shaking, but still not sheltering underneath the picnic table.

"Perhaps we should stick together for now and find some shelter.", suggested Rarity.

"Uh-huh.", agreed Applejack as the storm continued to intensify. "Perhaps we should. And fast!"

Immediately, Applejack took shelter underneath the table, although she was a bit too close to Chronicle, and he did not find it comforting.

"Nice and dry under here…", the farmpony said. "…sorta.", she then added as she eyed her muddy hooves.

"Ugh!", protested Rarity as she decided to continue struggling against the wind. "Unacceptable!"

"There's not enough space for the three of us anyway, Applejack.", Chronicle said. "Although I should probably–"

He was cut off when he heard Twilight Sparkle calling out their names. "CHRONICLE! APPLEJACK! RARITY!" All of them turned to the direction of the voice. "CHRONICLE! APPLEJACK! RARITY!"

As it turns out, the library, with Twilight standing at the open door and all the lights on, was just close by.

"Twilight?", the mares cried out.

"Now why didn't I see this earlier?", the stallion asked himself.

"Come inside, quick!", his charge called out to them.

The three sodden ponies sprinted across the open stretch of land. Rarity and Chronicle followed Twilight inside, but Applejack stopped at the doorstep.

"Whoa, nelly.", she said. "Is inside a tree really the best place to be in a lightnin' storm?"

"It is if you have a magical lightning rod protecting your home, like I do.", the bookish pony replied. "Come on in!"

Rarity gave a happy sigh. "We are most grateful for your invitation." She then looked worriedly over her shoulder as Applejack stepped in, muddy hooves and all.

"Thank you kindly for your hospitality.", she said before being stopped by Rarity, who then pointed down to the four spattered appendages.

"Uh, do be a polite house guest and go wash up, please, won't you?"

Applejack snarled to herself. "If I gotta spend one more second with that fussbudget Rarity today, I can't be held responsible for what I'm gonna do!"

"Just do it, please.", said Chronicle. "Even a non-prissy pony would complain like her if you walk in like that. Besides, it's improper to walk inside a house with dirty hooves. Even you should understand that, right?"

Applejack sighed as she conceded and stepped out. Meanwhile, Twilight was in quite a perky mood. "Some storm, huh?", she said. "The pegasus ponies sure have outdone themselves this time. I hope you and Applejack don't have any trouble getting home."

"It may indeed be a problem.", Rarity answered.

"Well, you're welcome to stay if need be. Spike is away in Canterlot on royal business. I'm home all alone tonight. Well, alone with Chronicle, that is." Suddenly, she gave a happy gasp. "You and Applejack should totally sleep over!" Twilight clapped her hooves at this. "We'll have a slumber party! I've always wanted one of those."

The suggestion caught Rarity flat-hoofed for a second before she started trying to put together something resembling a coherent response. "Oh!...goodness, uh, I do believe I have another engagement scheduled for this evening that completely slipped my mind until just now." She gave a fake chuckle. "Oh, silly me, I can't possibly stay here all night." She then added under her breath, "With Applejack."

Taking a quick look over the bookshelves, Twilight levitated one of the uppermost volumes from its resting place and down to her before 'passing' it on to Rarity. The cover showed a couple of pillows.

"Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties, But Were Afraid to Ask.", Rarity read the title.

"My own personal copy.", said a proud and happy Twilight. "It's a fantastic reference guide. You should see the table of contents. I've been waiting for a chance to use it, and today's the day! This is gonna be so great!

"Yes, uh…great." She managed the best polite laugh she can, then turned her gaze to a window, through which Applejack can be seen wrestling with a garden hose; she eventually gets the water going, only to have it spray her in the face and knock her hat off. "But about Chronicle…is it okay to have a…"

"I know what you're thinking; that the activities are probably too girly for me. Don't worry. I know how to handle myself in slumber parties, having been in a few myself with one of my old charges. Besides, I'll have to admit I like these kinds of parties too." This proved to be a surprise for the two unicorns and their faces showed it.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

A while later…

Applejack has cleaned up her hooves, retrieved her hat, and was entering the second-story room in the library. However, she was now tracking water across the floor instead of mud. A nearby mop was covered in a blue aura and it came to life and started to clean up after Applejack. Just as she looked ahead, she pulled in a sharp gasp, her eyes going wide and her tail briefly standing up of its own accord.

"What in tarnation?", she gasped as she saw Twilight and Rarity with a beauty treatment smeared on their faces, and the latter was slathering on some more. They and Chronicle were sitting close to one another on pillows, and Applejack stood facing them. "Now wait just a goldarn minute. You make me wash the mud off my hooves, but it's okay for y'all to have mud all over your faces?"

"This mud is nothing like the one you washed off, you know.", said Chronicle.

"Yeah, silly.", agreed Rarity. "this is called a mud mask. It's to refresh and rejuvenate your complexion."

"We're giving each other makeovers!", Twilight added giddily as she levitated the book past herself and towards Applejack. "We have to do it. It says so in the book."

The open tome reached Applejack and she read through it Slumber 101: Everything You—" She cut herself off with a sudden grimace as Twilight was about to slather some mud mask on her bodyguard.

"On second thought, I'll just take the cucumbers.", he said. As two cucumber slices were 'put over' his eyes, Applejack recovered her composure.

"Oh, hey, heh. Would you look at the time? I gotta skedaddle on home quick, I'm powerful late for, uh, for somethin' …uh…good night!" She began to gallop off, but yelped and beat a hasty retreat when a fresh bolt of lightning cracked the sky. Her saucer-eyed fear then gave way to a shaky smile after a moment. "Or maybe I'll set here for a spell."

Twilight clapped in glee. "Hooray, slumber party!"

The earth pony's unease as interrupted when a hoof-load of mud mask was thrown onto her face and Rarity rubbed it in. "Blecch!" She then got a cucumber slice slapped onto each eye. "What in the world is this for?"

Rarity gave a weary sigh. "To reduce the puffiness around one's eyes, of course."

"Yeah.", agreed Chronicle. "That's partly why I like these in the first place. My eyes have been so stressed today I could really use them."

"Puffiness, schmuffiness!", Applejack scoffed as she pulled them into her mouth with her tongue and gulped them down. "That's good eatin'!"

Rarity just aimed a vexed stare her way as Chronicle resisted the urge to give a yawn.

Meanwhile, Twilight continued to read from the guide, now having propped it to a stand as she giggled. "Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book, and that will make my slumber party officially fun!"

"Did you hear that, Applejack?", Rarity said to the farmpony as the latter tried to scrape her face clean. "You certainly would not want to do anything that would ruin Twilight's very first slumber party, would you?"

"Of course not. And you wouldn't either, I reckon."

"So do we have an agreement?"

"You betcha." Applejack then spit on one front hoof and offered it to shake. As expected, Rarity was horrified at this.

"Oh, gross! You know, there's messy, and there's just plain rude."

"You know, there's fussy, and there's just plain gettin' on my nerves!"

"Fortunately, I can get along with anypony, no matter how difficult she may be."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm the get-alongin'est pony you're ever gonna meet!"

"That's not even a word."

Suddenly, Twilight popped up between them and hugged them both. "This is gonna be the bestest slumber party ever! Yay!"

Her two friends gave a wooden, "Yay." in response as they gave each other dirty looks from the corners of their eyes.

Meanwhile, Chronicle gave a dejected sigh. "This'll be a slumber party to remember for sure."

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- Twilight Sparkle happily hugging Applejack and Rarity, who stare at each other in a hostile manner. The show's logo is seen on the upper right.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Evening…

Outside, the storm hasn't let up one bit. Inside, everypony was now in the kitchen, had their faces cleaned up, and the mares now had their manes and tails up in curlers. The lone stallion in the party was excluded as not only did he not prefer to participate, his hair was also too short to work with, not to mention it's not something a boy like him can enjoy anyways.

"Sooo…how are you getting along over there, Applejack?", Rarity asked.

"Just fine, Rarity.", the farmpony replied wearily.

"This is so awesome!", Twilight said with a giggle as she levitated the book and a quill over to herself. "Makeovers, check." In a flash, all the curlers disappeared in a flash, leaving the two guests to trade a thin smile. "Ooh! It says here we have to tell ghost stories! Who wants to go first?"

"Me!" Applejack then spoke in a hushed tone. "I'd like to tell y'all the terrifyin' tale of the Prissy Ghost, who drove everypony crazy with her unnecessary neatness!" She aimed a few of these words at Rarity, then waved her front hooves about while making ghostly moaning sounds for effect. "I'm sure y'all are familiar with that one?"

"I can't say I'm impressed in the slightest.", Chronicle yawned.

"Never heard of it.", said Rarity. "But I have a much better one." She then spoke in an ominous manner. "It's the horrifying story of the Messy Inconsiderate Ghost, who irritated everypony within a hundred miles!" It was obvious that this was aimed at Applejack as she added her own sound effects.

"That's not a real story.", the farmpony replied. "You made it up!"

"It is a ghost story. They're _all_ made up!"

"And both your stories aren't even remotely scary.", Chronicle said. Just then, a lightning strike took out all the lights, leaving everything black and eliciting gasps of fright, one of them as high as a filly's. A moment later, a firefly lantern was produced, illuminating everypony as they hunched around it.

"I've got one.", said Twilight. "This story is called…The Legend of the Headless Horse." More lightning tore through the night at the end of this. "It was a dark and stormy night, just like this one. And four ponies were having a slumber party…just like this one."

_I wonder how Mystic Shield's doing in this dark and stormy night._, Chronicle thought to himself as he listened to the story.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Meanwhile, in Mystic Shield's dojo… (1)

Said unicorn was in the center of the main room, which was now plain (now that the party regalia from his welcome party has been removed) with large tatami mats covering the entire floor. There were rugs that marked the doorways leading to his kitchen, sleeping quarters, and outdoors.

"It's so nice of you to let us sleep over in your house for the night."

"No problem, Fluttershy. I'm sure we'll have a blast while Pinkie Pie's around."

The two ponies were drinking warm tea together while said party pony was playing a board game with Rainbow Dash.

"Tell me again how you convinced me to like this game?", Rainbow asked the sole earth pony in the room.

"I don't know, Rainbow Dash.", Pinkie replied simply. "You looked interested the moment I pulled it out."

"Speaking of which, Pinkie, just how do you do what you do?", Mystic asked. "You know, pull stuff out of nowhere. As far as I can tell, only unicorns have it and even they have limits."

"You know, I sometimes ask myself the same thing."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Mystic turned his head to it and said, "Come in."

And that's what the visitors did. The door flew open and in came four unicorns. As the door automatically closed themselves thanks to a spell Mystic Shield had put on it. Once the doors were closed, Mystic and the others could see that their visitors were stallions. Before he could get a better look however, Pinkie gave a gasp, rising into the air, and then ran for the door, bypassing the newcomers and creating a hole in Mystic's door that was shaped like her, down to the poofy hair.

"Okay. Now that's just weird.", Mystic remarked. "I'm gonna have to charge Pinkie for that."

"Allow me to make a temporary fix.", said one of them as his horn glowed cyan like his eyes. This unicorn had an orange-brown coat, auburn hair in slicked-back messy spikes, a slightly large build for a unicorn, a mountain cutie mark, and a deep voice. From outside, the shards of the door–as well as pieces of soil from the ground just outside–floated up and made their way to the hole Pinkie made. In fifteen seconds, the pieces were put into place and the soil was somehow compacted. "That should keep out the rain for a while."

"Thanks you for your help.", said Mystic. "Might I ask why you're here?"

"Oh, apologies for not introducing ourselves. My name is Greatstone." The other three then began to step forward.

The second unicorn had a purple-gray coat, a black mane in a long ponytail (moreso than Applejack), an eyepatch over his right eye, showing the left which was amber, and a white reticule cutie mark. "Bullseye's the name.", he greeted in a casual 'surfer dude' tone.

The third unicorn had a silver-gray coat, steel blue hair with bangs covering the right side of his face, aqua eyes, and a closed dark-gray book as a cutie mark. "I'm Tricky Books." He sounded younger than the others

The last unicorn had a goldenrod coat, platinum blond hair worn in a Caesar cut, a goatee, two silver helix piercings in both ears, blue eyes, and a trio of cards as a cutie mark. "And I'm Chrono Cards.", he spoke in a formal manner. "We found an ad on the Request Board, and we were hoping to apply. That is, if your name's Mystic Shield."

"Indeed that is my name.", replied the only other unicorn in the area as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash watched in silence. "I take it you wish to enroll in my class?"

"Yes, that is so.", said Tricky. "May we inquire for additional details about your classes?"

"Why, of course. Come and we'll talk." Mystic then added under his breath. "Until Pinkie returns." He then raised his volume again. "No need to mind my pegasus companions, they're just staying here to get out of the rain."

RD–F–PP–MS–G–TB–B–CC

Back in the library…

Twilight's ghost story was drawing to a close. Rarity was visibly unnerved, evidently Twilight's story has gone to work on her. Applejack was doing no better. Chronicle however seemed to be able to maintain a calm face, although he was shaking on the inside.

"And just when the last pony thought she was safe…", Twilight said. "…there, standing right behind her, just inches away, was… THE HEADLESS HORSE!"

There came a lightning strike, and she–in all of a sudden–reared up before her guests and bodyguard with a blanket covering her head. Applejack and Rarity screamed in terror and clutch at a visibly paralyzed Chronicle as he resisted the urge to scream like a filly. Everypony fell quiet as Twilight then peeked out with a 'gotcha' smile. As Chronicle 'set free' the fireflies from the lantern, 'put it away' in "hammerspace", then 'turned on' the library lights, his charge tossed the cover away and galloped over to a stand where her slumber party guide sat open along with her quill.

"Ghost story, check." Now that the danger was past, Rarity and Applejack draw apart from Chronicle with suspicious glances at each other. Twilight then popped up between them and behind her bodyguard, still completely unaware of any enmity. "Now, who wants s'mores?"

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Later…

Everyone was at the kitchen. Applejack was at the fireplace, toasting four marshmallows at once. While holding the sticks holding them with her hooves. Somehow. Chronicle couldn't fathom as to how this was possible as he stood at the table with the other two unicorns in the slumber party.

"Then you place one marshmallow on the top of the chocolate—", Rarity was explaining to him and his charge. Plates of graham crackers and chocolate squares were laid out. Rarity hds a nearly-completed s'more on a saucer before her, missing only its top cracker and she was levitating both that piece and all the parts for a second. "—and be sure it's centered, that's critical, and then carefully put another perfectly square graham cracker on the top." With that, she floated the second cracker down and squished it gently into place. "And…done! Ta-da!"

"Ooooh!", said Twilight as the fashionista gave a soft laugh.

"Looks great.", commented Chronicle.

Applejack, however, was less than enthused at Rarity's meticulous explanation. "Nah, you just eat 'em!" And she does so, scarfing the whole thing in one cheek-bulging mouthful and chewing noisily with her mouth open. Rarity reacted to this display of bad table manners and the loud burp that followed it with a disgusted groan. Chronicle shared the same feelings.

"You could at least say, 'Excuse me'.", said the fashionista.

"I was just about to, but you interrupted me.", Applejack countered. "Pardon." The fastidious unicorn wasn't exactly thrilled by this.

"Are everypony in your farm this uncouth while eating?", Chronicle asked. "Because even middle-class citizens won't tolerate your manners, not just the high-class aspiring Rarity here." He quickly received hard stares from both of them.

Meanwhile, Twilight was marking off in her book. "S'mores, check. Now the next item of fun we have to do is…truth or dare!"

"I dare Applejack to do something carefully and neatly for a change.", Rarity said.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I dare Rarity to lighten up and stop obsessin' over every last little detail, for a change.", Applejack countered.

"I think the truth of the matter is that somepony could stand to pay a little more attention to detail." Twilight watched with mild shock at this while her bodyguard almost looked like he was about to smack himself in the face.

"And I think the truth is, somepony oughta quit with her fussin' so the rest of us can get things done!"

The slightly bewildered slumber party host then turned back to her guide and flips pages quickly with her magic.

"Um, I don't think this is how the game's supposed to work.", she said.

"You two are basically sniping at each other rather than playing the game.", her bodyguard added.

"You have to give an honest answer to any question, or do whatever anypony dares you to do."

Applejack then told Rarity, "I dares you to step outside and let your precious tidy mane get ruined again." The owner of said mane shuddered in fright.

"You have to.", said Twilight. "It's the rule."

"Ha!"

"Fine!", Rarity conceded as she skulked out, Applejack grinning wickedly after her.

As there were sounds of the door opening, rain pouring down, and Rarity yelping in barely contained panic, while Applejack put a hoof to her mouth to stifle a guffaw, Chronicle turned to his charge and said, "Isn't there supposed to be a part where someone asks 'Truth or Dare?', then the asked chooses?"

"Whoopsie. Can't believe I skipped that part."

Just then, they heard the door close again, and there stood a very soggy Rarity, her mane and tail having lost all semblance of their usual elegant curl. Applejack had a laugh as Rarity squished back into the room, but clammed up and started backing away before the latter's steady advance. "Okay. I dare Applejack to play dress-up, in a frou-frou, glittery, lacy outfit!"

Now Applejack was the one to react badly, sucking in a sharp gasp. She threw Rarity a dirty look and walked off. A quick rustle of clothing later, she returned to the kitchen. Her light blue outfit was that of a typical fairy-tale princess, complete with earrings and necklace, pink ribbons on her hooves, a tall pointed hat, and a full-length gown with a pink saddle trimmed in yellow and white. Her mane had been curled and flowers were put into it. Needless to say, she wasn't the slightest bit pleased at having to do this. "Happy?"

"Very." Rarity gave a chuckle.

"Um…do I ever get a turn?", Twilight asked, but was cut off by Applejack.

"I dare you to enter the next rodeo when it comes to town!"

"I dare you not to enter the next rodeo that comes to town!"

"I dare you to not comb your mane a hundred times before bed!"

"And I dare you to comb yours just once!"

"Wait a second…", Chronicle turned to his charge as the two continued to bicker. "Truth or Dare?"

"Wha…uhh…Truth."

"Tell me. Is that dress Applejack's wearing right now yours?"

"Umm…" Twilight blushed at this, then gave a sigh. "Yes. It's for me to wear in social events back in Canterlot."

"Sounds plausible, being Princess Celestia's star pupil and all."

"Okay. My turn. Truth or Dare?"

Chronicle put a hoof to his chin. "I'll have to go for…Dare."

"Great! I dare you to put on my dress Applejack's wearing."

"…Done." Twilight seemed surprised at his easy acceptance as he then turned to Applejack. "Applejack, I need you to come with me."

And the two were gone for a while. A few seconds later, Applejack was back with her usual stetson and hairstyle, looking really flustered, and Chronicle followed wearing the frilly dress, surprisingly keeping a straight face.

Rarity looked shocked at this. "Oh my stars, Chronicle! Are you…you…a cross–"

"I'm not gonna warrant an answer.", he said. "Other than one of my former charges convinced me into this. That's all you need to know."

Twilight gave a nervous smile as she levitated the book. "I think we can check off 'truth or dare' and move on. Let's see what our next fun-fun-fun thing is, shall we?" She eyed the pages for a long moment in a puzzled manner as Chronicle took off the dress-up outfit. "Hmmm, what does this mean? 'Pillow fight'?"

Rarity, by now properly dried and styled, said, "Oh, please. I am not at all interested in participating in something so crude." She promptly caught a flying pillow with her face and spat out a few loose feathers, changing her attitude in a heartbeat. "Ooh! It is on!"

One quick nip and head snap sends the pillow flying across the room and into Applejack's face. Shaking the feathers away, the latter bucked three from a pile in front of her that Twilight 'summoned'. It was a triple bulls-eye; now the fashionista kicked the pillows back across the room, missing with each one. The farmpony countered by cinching several of them in a lasso and twirling them overhead. She then whipped them loose—a salvo of three—but Rarity used her magic to bring them to a hovering rest on either side of her. Another spell then hurled them back across the room.

As pillows went flying in both directions, Twilight stood up with a look of sudden understanding. "Ohhh, I get it! Pillow…fight! Fun!"

Just before two pillows could slam into the side of her head, Chronicle jumped in and conjured a dome barrier around themselves.

"We better get out of the crossfire.", he said as he 'caught' a few of the pillows that shot across them and started 'constructing' fortifications. He then addressed his friends as Twilight stood confused. "Girls, please take this down a notch."

"I will if she will!", Applejack said as she threw and dodged pillows.

"She started it!", said Rarity, doing likewise.

"If that's how you want it, fine!", Chronicle said as he completed the 'fort' and 'caught' several of the pillows that sailed across the room. "Twilight, take cover!" His charge did so as he joined in the battle. He was so fierce in his pillow-throwing that Applejack and Rarity ended up teaming up against him, although it couldn't be helped as he was in between them and thus in their way. Eventually, he decided enough was enough, started defending from Rarity, then started on knocking out Applejack. After 'throwing' one as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly right into the farmpony's face, leaving her dazed, he then barraged Rarity in the same manner, using more pillows as she has telekinesis and could stop a few. Once both of them were down for the count, Chronicle relaxed.

Twilight then got up and spat out some feathers that came from the pillows. "Maybe we should just call it a night and get some sleep?"

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Back in Mystic Shield's dojo…

There was a party going on, thanks to Pinkie Pie, who unfortunately created a hole in the door shaped like her. Again. Which was also patched up. It was a welcome party for the four newcomer unicorns, who have decided to enroll in Mystic's class. There were no extra guests as the storm prevented anypony else from coming.

"I never thought we'd have a party for us.", said Bullseye as he watched Chrono drink some punch and somehow get himself wasted. When Pinkie came back, she had took out a blue weapon on wheels and blasted…well, a party out of it. (2) Neither he nor his companions knew how she did that, and when they asked Mystic, Fluttershy, and Rainbow, they said they had no idea either.

"I'm relatively new to this town myself.", admitted Mystic. "And there was a party here for me a couple days ago."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Speaking of which, where will you guys be living?"

"Oh, we'll manage." Bullseye spied Tricky reading a book that looked like the one on his flank, and he was reading it to Fluttershy, who seemed to be trying to tell him to stop but was unable to bring up the courage to. "Is there an apartment in this town?"

"I haven't checked the whole town yet, so I wouldn't know."

"Okay. I guess we'll see. …This party doesn't seem to be very exciting, isn't it?"

All of a sudden, Pinkie popped up from behind him. "Yeah, I noticed! Once this storm's over, I'm throwing another party for you guys and this time I'm inviting everypony!"

"But not here, Pinkie.", Mystic warned as he glanced Rainbow staring at Greatstone and making a string of goofy faces at him, who remained stoic as he ate a slice of cake. "I don't think my door could take any more holes shaped like you."

"Okay! I'll invite them at Sugarcube Corner!"

"Well, I think this party's getting nowhere, so I guess I'm gonna hit the hay."

"What hay? There aren't any around here you could hit."

"I wanna sleep now, okay?"

"Okay!" Pinkie then suddenly pulled out pillows and a nightcap. "Slumber party!"

"That's…not a bad idea!"

"Yay!"

"But first, clean up this mess."

"Okey-dokey-lokey!" With that, she began to speed around, much to the amazement of everypony else. Once she was done, nothing of the party regalia was left.

"Wow, that was fast!"

"Aaand…I totally remembered to bring this book on slumber parties." Out of her back, she produced the book titled Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties (But Were Afraid to Ask).

"How does she do all these things?", Bullseye asked himself.

"There are some things pony's not meant to know.", Greatstone said, not minding the icing that was still on his face.

"Hmm?", Tricky raised his head, not having noticed anything go on, even when Pinkie quickly wrapped up her party regalia.

RD–F–PP–MS–G–TB–B–CC

Much later…

Everypony was in bed. After some…uncomfortable implications…Chronicle relinquished his bed to Applejack and Rarity while he slept beside his charge. Miraculously, he managed not to feel aroused in spite of sleeping next to…well, a girl that wasn't a blood relative. Usually, he'd be out like a light and would not wake up until late morning, but for some reason sleep kept eluding him as he heard voices on his bed.

"Keep your muddy hooves on your side of the bed!", Rarity whispered to Applejack.

"My hooves ain't muddy!"

"They were. There might still be a little on them."

"There ain't! See?"

"Ewww!" Rarity gripped the blanket with her teeth and yanked all of it to her side.

"Now who's bein' inconsiderate? " Applejack yanked the blanket off Rarity, who glared over her shoulder and then got out of bed.

"I have to make the bed again so the blanket will be right!" She then butted Applejack off. "Get up!"

"Hey!"

Rarity 'tucked' the blanket's corners neatly over the mattress and smoothed out all the folds, leaving a perfectly made bed that didn't placate Applejack in the slightest. The latter angled her head down to get her teeth on the edge, but Rarity waved her back. "Ah-ah-ah! You'll ruin it. You have to do it like this." From a haunch-sitting position on her pillow, she eased her hindquarters under the blanket without turning it down, and eventually wound up lying on her back. "Ahhh…"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Applejack then jumped up, with full intent on pouncing on the bed. "GERONIMO!" She landed on the bed with enough force to throw both Rarity and her pillow out as the suddenly vacant half of the blanket settled over the farmpony.

"Hey!" She the got up from her being thrown off. "You did that on purpose."

"Um…yeah."

"Get up so I can fix it again!"

"Can't hear you. I'm asleep." Applejack then gave a few loud fake snores as Rarity fumed quietly for a moment, after which the irate unicorn whipped the blanket off the bed with her teeth. "I ain't budgin'."

"You will if you want any blanket!", Rarity said through her teeth. The blanket was swiftly yanked away by Applejack, leading to a tug-of war.

"Give it back!"

"I will not!"

"Yes, you will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!

"ENOUGH!" They were cut off by Twilight, who had gotten up due to all the racket. Chronicle was up too, unable to get any sleep.

"Damn you, girls!", said the only male in the room. "You managed to wake me up from my sleep! And let me tell you that once I'm asleep, I'm difficult to wake!" He then added with sarcasm. "Congratulations!"

The two 'combatants' slackened their pull on the blanket as the book, open, was levitated up for them to read.

"It says right here that the number-one thing you're supposed to do at a slumber party is have fun.", Twilight said as she then 'slammed' the book shut and 'dropped' it. "And thanks to you two, I can't check that off!"

Applejack dropped her end. "I've been tryin' my darnedest to get along!"

Rarity dropped hers. "No, it is I who have been trying my best."

"No, it was me."

"No, it was I."

"Me!"

"I!"

As the now tried to bulldoze each other away, Chronicle cut them off as his charge brought them up short. "No! Neither of you were doing your best! You were busy sniping at each other and either Twilight was very oblivious, or was being patient."

"I hope you're happy…", she said. "…both of you! You've ruined my very first slumber party! The makeover, the s'mores, truth or dare, the pillow fight—I mean, is there anything else that could possibly go wrong?!"

"Dammit, you shouldn't say that!", Chronicle then scolded. There came a lightning strike from outside. Twilight's friends turned to see that a nearby tree has been hit, weakening the trunk so that its upper section began to lean precariously toward the house next door…which happened to be Mystic Shield's dojo. Twilight huddled down under her blanket, leaving only her forelegs, eyes, and bangs visible.

"Sorry I asked."

"See?!"

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- The Books and Branches Library in a stormy night, with the leaning lightning-struck tree on the right. The show's logo is seen on the bottom right.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

The lights have been turned on as everypony gathered near the window. They all gasped in unison, seeing the tree's upper section start to topple over.

"You see?", Applejack scolded a chastened Rarity. "That's why we needed to take down all those loose branches in town, not spiffy 'em up!"

"But I—"

"Out of my way, missy!" Applejack dashed to the window. "Time's a-wastin'!" She pushed it open with one hoof and her lasso began to spin.

"Wait! Stop! Don't!"

"No waitin', no stoppin', doin'!" And with that, she let the rope fly and caught the loose section at its top. She then let go of the rope from her teeth to say, "And that, my friends, is what we call 'gettin' 'er done.'"

As she then bit down on her end, Chronicle warned. "Hold it! Don't pull that way!" But it was already done. The unicorns cried out in panic as the entire leafy expanse of the snapped-off piece tumbled squarely through the window. The foliage was expansive enough to nearly fill the loft, and Applejack wound up hanging over the balcony by the rope still in her teeth.

As Chronicle conjured a wall of magic to keep out the storm, Rarity was crying out from the wind-blown mess at the bookshelves, which have been reduced to a scramble of open volumes, torn-out pages, and broken junk. She was holding an open book over her head to shelter herself in spite of the fact that no wind was blowing inside anymore.

"I tried to tell you it would come crashing down in here!", the fashionista warned as Applejack climbed up the steps.

"Well, you shoulda tried harder!" Applejack's eyes then popped upon seeing that Rarity was trying to gather up the bits of furniture. At the other end of the fallen timber, Twilight poked her head up dizzily and shook it clear. "I'm mighty sorry, Twilight. "

"It's…well…it's not okay! There's a giant tree branch in the middle of my bedroom!" Twilight then 'pulled out' the book. "And the book doesn't say anything about having a giant tree branch at your slumber party!" She then 'flipped' the pages. "Or at least I haven't found that answer yet!"

"It's not.", Chronicle said. "I looked it up in my spare time! It's an intrusion, and intruders must be kicked out."

"Really? Let me look it up."

The sole stallion groaned at his charge's skewed priorities. _That tree must've hit her hard._ He then turned to Rarity, who was putting books back on the shelves, and saw that her priorities were also skewed.

"What in tarnation are y'all doin' over there?", Applejack asked her, seeing it too.

"Cleaning up this mess somepony made! Who was that again? Oh, right, that's you!"

Applejack grimaced for a moment, pulled her head into the leaves, and put it up behind Twilight. "We gotta do somethin'!"

Twilight was still reading, "Baking, BFF's, brothers…there's nothing in here about branches!"

"I told you it's an intrusion!", Chronicle yelled back. "Look up 'I'." _Darn, she's hopeless._

Applejack used her rope to pull on one section, then bucked at it and stomped before diving back in. A moment later, she looked out across the room. "Rarity, for pony's sake! Stop sweatin' the small stuff and help me get rid of this thing!" Rarity ignored her as she continued shelving. "I said, hustle over here and help me!"

"Come on, Rarity. We can fix up the books later."

Again, there was no response. At this moment, Applejack strained against the trunk's weight and/or her own attitude. When she spoke next, her voice has lost some of its angry edge. ""Look. I'm sorry, all right?"

"What was that?", Rarity asked.

"I said, I'm sorry! I shoulda listened to you when you noticed where this here branch would end up. Your annoyin' attention to detail woulda saved us from this whole mess. But right now, you need to stop bein' so dang fussy pickin' up all those little things and help me move the one big thing in here that actually matters!" There was no immediate response. "Please!"

The last word got Rarity's attention, but she eyed her hooves with a couple of worried little grunts.

"But I'll get all icky!"

"Consarn it—! What the…you…I mean, yes. Ickiness is often a side effect of hard work. But y'all need to get over it, on account of I just can't fix this mess I made myself. I need your help." She then turned to Chronicle. "I could use your help too."

Taking a long moment to think, Rarity tossed her head to get the book off it and moaned uncertainly—before a determined smile came over her face. "Let's do this!" As the two of them then went to Chronicle and the three discussed strategy, Twilight continued consulting her slumber party guide.

"Well, they do have a section about backyard slumber parties.", she asked herself. "Is that what we're doing right now? Does this count as camping?"

"Darn it, Twilight!", Chronicle yelled, interrupting the plan-making. "Just—oh, forget it!"

A few seconds later, they put their plan into action. Rarity was now back at the bookshelves and she concentrates deeply, and unleashing a scintillating burst from her horn. In two swift flashes, the leafy limbs became topiaries similar to the ones she made prior to the storm, but with a wider assortment of shapes. They floated before her and settled gently into the suddenly cleared floor space.

At the window, one stub of trunk still hung on the sill, held in place by Chronicle's barrier. Applejack—having finally put her hat back on—was set to buck it out, but a stern look from Rarity changed her mind. Both ponies are now filthy with twigs and tree sap. Instead of using leg-power, Applejack caught a small side branch in her teeth and—the second Chronicle dismissed the barrier—gently heaved the wood over the side. Rarity smiled approvingly as the sole stallion then pulled the window shut, then got a full look at the splatters that have ruined her own impeccable grooming. "Oh…I look awful."

Applejack thought hard for a moment before getting a brainstorm. She then took up some cucumber slices and put them on Rarity's eyes. "Better?"

Rarity smiled and laughed softly. "Thanks." She reached forward blindly with a hoof, trying to touch Applejack's cheek. The latter leaned forward to put herself in the right place, and the two share a standing hug—nuzzling each other's cheek while draping a foreleg around the neck.

Chronicle smiled at this. While he could've done all this by himself, he had a feeling that this was needed to bring the two different friends together. He then turned to Twilight, who was still reading, then she finally took note of the topiaries.

"Ooh, pretty! Where did these come from?" Twilight then checked the pages. "They're not in the book either."

Chronicle smacked himself in the face, forgetting it was muddied, then regretted it. _Why do I seem to be the only sane pony among my friends?_ All of a sudden, he felt tired and dropped off on the spot. After his three friends cleaned the place and themselves up, they realized he was sleeping. Together, they cleaned his face, lifted him up, carried him to his bed, and pulled up the covers. Just as they walked away however, Chronicle's horn began to glow. Then, in a flash, a pony that looked like him appeared right in front of them.

"Oh my!", gasped Rarity.

"What is tarnation?!", gasped Applejack.

"Are you a magical clone?", asked Twilight.

"Yes.", the copy answered. "You can address me as Chronicle since I'm effectively him. Anything I learn, he will too once I'm made to disappear either at will or when I'm hit real hard. I'm quite fragile." He turned to Rarity and Applejack. "Ask Twilight for more details."

"Speaking of which, why did you come to be?", his charge asked.

"Hey, we still got a slumber party to finish, right? My original is too pooped, but I'm more than ready to continue for him."

His three friends just stared with mixed expressions, unsure as to how to take this in.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Hours later…

After Applejack and Rarity finished asking Twilight about Chronicle's magical clone, they all began to play the next game in the book's list: Twenty Questions. They were sitting on the floor and laughing and the unicorn mares had their curlers in.

"Is it bigger than a barn?", asked Applejack.

"Nope.", said Chronicle–his copy, to be exact–with a bored face.

"Is it smaller than a saddle?"

Twilight giggled again. "No. Only three of your twenty questions left."

Applejack sighed. "We're never gonna guess what you're thinkin' of! It could be anything!"

_Only because your guessing skills are poor._, Chronicle thought to himself.

"Are we getting warmer?", asked Rarity.

"Why? Is it too cold in here for you?", asked Twilight. "I can turn up the heat."

"What a horrible pun.", grumbled her bodyguard.

"She means, are we gettin' any closer with our guesses?", Applejack clarified.

"Oh!...No. And that technically counted as a question, so only two more left.", said Twilight.

Both guessers began to think very hard. "

"Is it…", Applejack said, then in rapid fire, "…a six-legged pony with a purple polka-dotted mane and shootin' stars comin' out of his eyes…"

"…who flies through the air all over the world to hide magic sparkly eggs?", finished Rarity in the same manner.

"That's it!", said Twilight.

"It is?", both guessers asked.

"No.", Chronicle simply stated. "Way too specific and way too ridiculous." He then pointed to something at the bedroom window. "It's a telescope. Really, girls. Those were worse guesses than in the last time I played Twenty Questions."

"But it was just so nice to see you two finally getting along, I wanted you to be able to win together.", Twilight said, and the two guessers laughed, proving her point. "See? We could've been having fun like this all along."

"If only somepony hadn't been so persnickety.", said Applejack.

"Well, maybe she wouldn't have been if somepony else hadn't been so sloppy.", said Rarity.

They traded sidelong, riled-up glances for a moment, then smiled again. "Sorry for bein' such a pain in the patootie."

"Oh, no, I'm sure I was much worse."

"That's kind of you to say, but I'm the one who's sorry."

"Oh, I'm much more sorry than you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

Both of them began to laugh, and Twilight popped up between them, the curlers gone from her mane. "I declare my first slumber party a success!"

The three of them "high-fived" and gave out a "Yeah!" before laughing again.

Twilight then levitated her book. "Have fun, check!" There was another round of laughter as it was closed.

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

Early morning…

At the main room, the table was set aside as stacks of books and pillows–as well as the topiaries–filled the floor.

"Now take two steps to your left." Rarity–curlers off her head–instructed Applejack as she walked into the 'obstacle course', her motions hampered by the cucumber slices on her eyes. "Uh, no, my left."

Applejack tried to correct herself in her walk. "Well, which is it?" She then stumbled into the books, toppling them over. "Whoa!" When she stood up from the collapse, she had lost the slices but gained a pillow on her head. She gave a smile as Rarity walked to her. "That mess is your fault, not mine." Both of them began to laugh.

"Sorry."

Meanwhile, Twilight was composing a report at a worktable, her bodyguard standing right next to her.

"Dear Princess Celestia,", she began. "It's hard to believe that two ponies who seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you just might be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all." She then floated the quill away from the scroll and addressed herself across the room. "So, who's up for another slumber party tomorrow night?" She was answered with a pair of pillows being flung into her grinning face. "How about a week from Thursday?" A few more pillows were thrown. "Oh! How about two weeks from Saturday?" There was laughter from her guests. "A month from now?"

"In any case, why don't we invite **all** of our friends next time?", Chronicle suggested. "I'm sure it'll be a blast with Pinkie Pie. Speaking of which, I wonder what she's doing?"

C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R–C–TS–A–R

In Mystic Shield's dojo…

Eight ponies were sleeping on the tatami mats in sleeping bags Mystic Shield provided. Mystic was in the center, the mares were cuddled together in a circle around him, and Mystic's new students were circled around **them**. While he could've slept in his bedroom, he decided to sleep with the others. With his four new students and Chronicle's friends. He didn't feel acquainted enough with them yet to be part of his friendship circle with the Keepers of the Elements of Harmony.

"Man, that was the first slumber party I've ever had.", Mystic mumbled to himself. "I think my future's looking bright."

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

nightelf37: Not a good idea to wrap this up, eh? Well, I thought it'd be better than leaving the second 'line' hanging.

(1) I added the portion concerning the other 'half' with Mystic Shield just for filler material. And not to _just_ skip the 'ghost story'.  
(2) While the party cannon is here already, I'd rather not name it until _Sweet and Elite_.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	7. Chapter 9: Bridle Gossip

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield (who'll be absent in this chapter), and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM –SCFIM

**Chapter 9: Bridle Gossip**

In Chronicle's dreams...

He was once again inside a dark expanse, where he usually 'stays' to think of things. Sometimes, he'd also dream of sparring with Rainbow Dash, making small talk with Mystic Shield, or pre-Ponyville times with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. But more often than not, he's in this void, mulling over matters.

All of a sudden, another pony began to appear in front of him. As it began to materialize, he saw it had the same coat color, hair color, general body shape, black hooves, and even cutie mark. As the image got clearer, he saw that it was a mare, her mane was smooth and at neck-length with two bangs flanking her face, her tail was longer, and her muzzle was more curved.

"Hello there...Timmy.", she said.

"T-t-t-Tabitha?", Chronicle asked upon hearing his real name.

"Glad you still managed to remember me in spite of the pony form I'm currently assuming. By the way, the name I'm going by is Timerity."

"Uhh...okay. I'm going by the name Chronicle." Chronicle then managed to get back to his senses. "Hold on a minute! How are you able to contact me in this dream?"

"Something new in the Story Crew." Tabitha, a.k.a. Timerity, is Chronicle's sister. "The Timer family can now communicate with one another in dreams, although it won't be every night." There are numerous Equestrias their organization the Story Crew are within reach of. And both of them were assigned to two of them.

"Just where are you assigned to, since you've assumed a pony form?"

"While you're assigned to 'Equestria Prime', which should be a big honor for you, I am assigned to 'Solaris Equestria', and you won't believe it but the male-to-female ratio is more favored on the former than in ours."

"Yeah? Well, while where I am has its share of dudes, the reverse of what you said is apparently true here. That is, the majority of ponies here are girls."

"You must be elated, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, your friendship circle has **got to** feel like a harem, doesn't it? I know mine can't."

Chronicle was flustered at this. "What?! No! That thought has never entered my mind until you suggested it! And no, I still don't think of it as a harem now." Timerity chuckled at this, making him groan. "So, any real reason as to why you wanted to talk with me?"

"No real reason. Just wanted to rant on what I've been experiencing so far. My charge Dusk Shine had a slumber party with some of his friends."

"Dusk Shine?"

"Student of Prince—or was it Lord—Solaris, has a baby dragon assistant named Barbara. Also, Keeper of the Element of Magic."

"Wait a second...this Dusk Shine...is he a bookworm?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Purple coat?"

"Yes."

"What's his cutie mark?"

"A six-pointed pink star overlaid on a white one with five small white stars surrounding the two. Just what are you getting to, Timmy?"

"I was suspecting something."

"And...Wait a second, did **you** have a slumber party with **your** friends some time ago?"

"Yeah."

"Who was the host?"

"My friend and charge Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and Keeper of the Element of M—"

"Magic. What's she like?"

Chronicle was a bit shaken from the interruption. "A bookworm, needs to build up on her social skills. Her special talent **is** magic."

"What's her cutie mark?"

"Uhh, a six-pointed pink star overla...oh, my—"

"I think I get it now!", shouted out Timerity. "It may still be a wild guess, but I think whoever's a girl in your world it's a boy in mine and vice-versa. Not just for our friends and the rulers, but for nearly everypony else."

"Now that guess is really wild, but to think that this gender-swap issue also applies for **us** too..."

"I know, right. Well, I better wake up soon. Try and wake up early next time, will you?"

"I know, I know. It's nice talking with you, Tabitha."

"Likewise. But I think we should call each other by our pony names from now on, okay?"

"All right...Timerity." (1)

C—T—C—T—C—T—C—T—C—T—C—T

One clear, sunny day, a day after the dream...

"Wow, what a gorgeous day!", Twilight Sparkle said as she, Spike (who was on her back), and Chronicle were walking down a tree-lined road as they made their way to the town square in Ponyville.

"Rainbow Dash must've gotten up early for once and cleared all the clouds away.", Spike guessed.

"I bet all of Ponyville is gonna be out enjoying the sunshine."

"Probably not.", disagreed Chronicle as he noticed something was wrong; not a single other pony was in sight. The others began to look around as well.

"What? Where is everypony?"

As they looked around, they could see a tumbleweed drift by—even though such plants shouldn't be around in Ponyville. One pony slammed the upstairs shutters closed, while another—an earth pony—yanked her daughter—a unicorn—in off the front step and closed the door. _Okay. Now this is something I can find to be strange. And it's not this deserted town._ "Is it some sort of pony holiday?"

"Not that I know of."

"Does my breath stink?", Spike asked, then blew out fire and sniffed it.

"Not more than usual."

"Is it…" Spike was frightened now. "…zombies?"

"Uh, not very likely. "

"Not likely…but possible?"

"No.", said Chronicle. "There'd be news if it was, and the town was bustling **yesterday**. Hold up."

The two unicorns stopped abruptly and looked ahead at Sugarcube Corner, the top half of its front door open and the lights out. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie stuck her head into view.

"Twilight!" She ducked away again and reappeared. "Spike!" She then repeated the process. "Chronicle!" She then ducked down again, beckoning with her hoof. "Come here!" The three outside just stood puzzled. "Come here!" She then poked out her head. "Hurry! Before she gets you!" This time, when she pulled her head back, Twilight quickly followed her inside. Chronicle just sighed and was about to casually walk in when Pinkie somehow stretched her body to grab him and pull him in. He let out a yelp as the door's top half closed behind him.

It was dark inside Sugarcube Corner, but it was quickly banished by a firefly lantern—which was covered up in such a way it operated like a flashlight—illuminating the three new arrivals. Twilight and her bodyguard shielded their eyes from the glare, which passed away from them as Spike spoke up. "Who? The zombie pony?"

Pinkie was holding the lantern and she trained the light on herself as she shuddered mightily. "Zombie pony?"

Spike hunkered down and grabbed hold of Twilight even more tightly than he was doing right now, prompting an irritated glare from her. "Spike, there are no zombie ponies." Spike then got off of her. "Pinkie, what are you doing here alone in the dark?"

"I'm not alone in the dark." The lights came up to reveal the rest of their friends as well as Apple Bloom, whom Twilight, Spike, and Chronicle have met back on their very first visit to Sweet Apple Acres on the day before the Summer Sun Celebration.

Chronicle grumbled as he corrected his charge. "Okay, then, what are you **all** doing here in the dark?"

"We're hidin' from her!", Applejack answered, pointing out of a window. She nudged the curtain open so all can get a closer look, with the exception of Fluttershy. In the middle of the deserted street, a four-legged figure in a hooded cloak pawed at the dirt. The figure seemed to be a zebra, who had one foreleg encircled by several gold hoops. The cloak was brown and covered the rest of the body. As the others stared with fear, Twilight just looked intently while Chronicle gave a casual gaze.

Suddenly, the figure turned its head towards them exposing its nose and a pair of glowing yellow eyes under the hood. Inside Sugarcube Corner, five ponies and one dragon recoiled away from the mirror with a cry of fear, but Twilight just threw a quizzical look over her shoulder at them while her bodyguard just continued looking, then turned to face the others as Bloom—as Chronicle came to call the filly—used Spike's head as a hoof-rest to help get her toward eye level with Chronicle's charge.

"Did you see her, Twilight?", the filly asked. "Did you see…Zecora?"

Applejack leaned down to her. "Apple Bloom! I told you never to say that name!"

"Well, I saw her glance this way—", Twilight said.

"Glance **evilly** this way!", Pinkie corrected.

"—and then a bunch of you flip out for no good reason."

"No good reason?", Applejack cried out as she pulled the yellow filly—who was her younger sister, it turns out—closer. "You call protectin' your kin no good reason?" She then let her go, patting her head. "Why, as soon as my sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her little horseshoes!" Applejack shook Bloom on the word "shakin'" to make the point.

"Di-i-id no-o-ot!" Bloom retorted, her voice vibrating. Applejack stopped shaking her and picked her up.

"So I swept her up and brought her here…"

"I walked here myself!"

"…for safekeepin'."

Bloom jumped down. "Applejack, I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself!"

"Not from that creepy Zecora."

"She's mysterious.", Fluttershy said.

"Sinister.", Rainbow Dash added.

"And spooooky!", Pinkie concluded, eyes going wide.

Twilight and Chronicle, clearly unconvinced, took another look out the window—and promptly found themselves at the bottom of a six-pony-and-one-dragon crush doing likewise. The brown-cloaked figure of Zecora put down her hood, exposing a black/white striped Mohawk-like mane and gold hoops in the ears. These markings and the ones on her coat confirmed Chronicle's suspicions; Zecora was definitely a zebra. Her face was turned away from the window as everypony save for the sole stallion and his charge gasped.

"Will you cut that out?", Twilight asked.

"Just look at those stripes.", Rarity pointed out. "So garish."

"She's a zebra."

"A what?!", everypony else save for Twilight's bodyguard gasped.

"A zebra. And her stripes aren't a fashion choice, Rarity."

Chronicle continued, "They're what she was born with." Rarity cried out and fainted as he turned tot he rest. "As for the digging in the ground, from what I know about zebras, she was digging for water, not making a threat display, which I assume you all had in mind."

"Where was she born?", asked Applejack. "I never seen a pony like that in these parts…'cept her!"

"Well, she's isn't from around here, and she's not a pony." He and Twilight turned to the window, where they saw Zecora pawing at the ground once more.

"My books say that zebras come from a faraway land.", his charge said as Spike slipped into the kitchen. "But I've never seen her in Ponyville. Where does she live?"

"That's just it. She lives in…the Everfree Forest!", Applejack answered.

A thunderclap shook the room, scaring the daylights out of her, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Bloom was thrown a bit off balance, but did not freak out. Chronicle merely jumped in surprise, but nothing more.

Twilight turned angrily to a set of double doors that seemingly led to the kitchen. "Spike!", she called out.

As it turns out, the noise was caused by a couple of pans the baby dragon dropped while getting a snack for himself. "Uh, sorry.", he said.

"The Everfree Forest just ain't natural. The plants grow…"

"Animals care for themselves…", Fluttershy added.

"And the clouds move…", Rainbow continued.

"…all on their own!", all three finished simultaneously.

Rarity cried out and fainted again. As Twilight stood unimpressed, Chronicle thought to himself. _That's can't be right. Isn't it normal for nature to take care of itself? …Oh, right. Nature is manually managed by ponies in Equestria._

"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil…stuff!", Pinkie added. "She's so evil, I even wrote a song about her!"

Rainbow groaned wearily, "Here we go."

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=-k2h48OZP0w)

_Now Playing: Evil Enchantress song_

Chronicle turned to the window to look at Zecora as Pinkie sang her song. All the while, he reminisced, as usual in these times, on the time between his arrival and the acquiring of the contract that bound him to Twilight Sparkle.

_She's an evil enchantress, she does evil dances _  
_And if you look deep in her eyes, she'll put you in trances _  
_Then what will she do? She'll mix up an evil brew _  
_And she'll gobble you up in a big tasty stew _  
_So…watch out! _

_End Song_

_Such idiots. There are a few things I hate and discrimination is one of them._ Chronicle gave a sigh. _To think it exists in here…_

Chronicle then looked back at Pinkie, who was struck the best two-legged menacing pose she could make and heaved for breath while atop a table.

"Wow. Catchy.", Twilight broke the ensuing silence.

Pinkie got down and smiled. "It's a work in progress."

_I figured as much._, Chronicle grumbled as his charge spoke again.

"This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors.", Twilight said as she crossed the room. "Now tell me, what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?"

"Well…once a month, she comes into Ponyville.", Rainbow put in.

"Ooooh!", Chronicle said sarcastically.

"Then…she lurks by the stores.", Rarity added.

"Oh, my!" Same sarcasm.

"And then, she digs at the ground.", Fluttershy finished.

"Good gracious!" Bloom eyed the apparently only two sane unicorns with slight unease. "Okay, that was the most pathetic 'evil' actions I've **ever** heard. Of all time."

"I'm sorry, but how is any of this bad?", Twilight asked. "Maybe she comes to town to visit."

"Yeah!", Bloom agreed. "Maybe she's just tryin' to be neighborly."

"And maybe she's not lurking by the stores, maybe she's going to them, lurk-free, to do some shopping?"

"Yeah! Everypony likes to shop. You know what I think?"

Applejack cut her little sister off, "Apple Bloom! Hush and let the big ponies talk."

"I am a big pony." Bloom then clomped away, discomfited.

"From my experience, children are worth listening to, Applejack.", Chronicle said. "You shouldn't shoot them down just because they're younger."

"What about digging at the ground?", Rainbow asked Twilight as Bloom crossed to a corner. "You got to admit, that's weird."

"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?", Fluttershy asked as Pinkie started singing a cappella and cavorting around the place as Twilight and Applejack discussed.

"I am sure there's an explanation for everything Zecora does.", Twilight said. "And if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, she—or he—" She glanced at Chronicle at this. "would find out the truth. And I'm certain my bodyguard isn't a superstitious pony."

As she and her friends began to debate, Chronicle noticed Bloom tossing her head back defiantly and opening the door near her—leading outside.

"Well, I'm brave enough.", she said to herself. "I'm gonna find out myself." Cautious but determined, he saw her step out of the building.

With caution, he followed her until he was just at the door, then 'summoned' a magical copy on the other side. "Follow her.", he whispered.

Out in the street, Chronicle's copy observed the following events from various stealthy vantage points; Zecora had put up her hood again. Bloom was ducking around miscellaneous hiding places, risking looks, and hurrying across the way, emerging closer to Zecora, who was finished with her digging. The stranger then took a quick look over her shoulder before walking off, revealing gold hoops around her neck as well as her foreleg. Both watchers got another furtive look at the departing out-of-towner from the alley and some bushes, working their way closer, Bloom not knowing of her fellow 'spy'.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, the argument was getting...ridiculous.

"You ponies are being ridiculous!", Twilight said. (See?)

"Well, I heard that Zecora eats hay.", Pinkie replied.

"Excuse me?", retorted Chronicle as he has rejoined his friends. "We **all** eat hay, Pinkie Pie." Everypony then turned to stare at him as if he said something wrong. "Or at least are able to." As it was, Chronicle was a bit picky with eating hay.

"Yeah, but I heard it's the **evil** way she eats hay."

"Now that's just preposterous! Now let me go out there and find out more about her. I know how to deal with zebras, having met one or two before during my previous contracts." _Now why do I have to keep referencing them nowadays?_

"Hey!", Applejack suddenly asked. "Where's Apple Bloom?"

"The door's open!", Fluttershy said, pointing to the open door where Bloom left.

"She went outside!", cried out Rarity.

"And Zecora's still out there!", Rainbow added.

"That silly little filly!", said Applejack. "I told her to stay put!"

Before the four could begin to charge out, Chronicle called out to them. "Hold it!" They stopped in their tracks and turned to face him as he closed his eyes.

"What are we waiting for?", Rainbow asked him. "Zecora might've got her by now!"

The sole stallion opened his eyes. "No, she hasn't. Bloom's currently following her as we speak."

"How do you know that?", Rarity asked.

"I explained to you before about my magical clone. I had him follow Bloom. But now that I have dismissed it, she's 'unprotected'. Now follow me, girls."

With that, he led the four out of Sugarcube Corner, hoping their suspicions of Zecora were wrong. As he ran, he began to reminisce about an old time.

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_"I tell you, this is the worst day I've ever had!"_

_Chronicle, his charge Chocolate Sun—who was the one complaining—and their zebra companion were gathered around a campfire. Chocolate Sun was a unicorn stallion from Canterlot, his coat was dark brown, his mane was yellow, his eyes were blue, and his cutie mark was a compass rose that looked like a sun. Their zebra friend did not speak at all, only flashing a white medium-sized card giving his name; Nalego._

_"Well, if you weren't reading that map upside-down, this wouldn't have happened.", Chronicle snarked._

_"Excuse me for that."_

_"If it weren't for Nalego here, we would've been manticore chow."_

_"No need to remind me.", sighed Chocolate as he looked at himself. He was dirtied up from head to hoof, which is very shameful for a Canterlot pony like him._

_"Look, I'm not asking you to like Nalego. Only that you trust me in trusting him, okay?"_

_Chocolate sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice in the matter."_

_"I know it's weird for me taking charge of my...well, charge. But given the circumstances, aside from Nalego, I'm the only one capable of getting us out of this forest. Or at least keeping dangers out."_

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

Chronicle shook the thoughts out of his mind as he and his friends (Twilight and Pinkie managed to catch up) bypassed Mystic Shield's dojo. (2) _Now's not the time for reminiscing!_, he scolded himself. As it was, the entirety of Ponyville had been hiding for hours. He didn't even sense the time pass by so quickly in spite of the waiting. They made it to a path leading to the Everfree Forest, but not the one they used back when they first went off to find the Elements of Harmony. As they ran, they made it to a field of plants with vivid blue leaves. And across them they could see Zecora and—

"Apple Bloom?", Applejack called out. Both zebra and filly looked back to see them, the latter with a startled gasp. "You get back here right now!"

It was then that Zecora began to speak for the first time. It was in a throaty voice of foreign origin as she slowly backed up into a sudden spurt of mist behind her. "Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"

For some reason, Chronicle took these words into consideration and started trying to make sense of them as he put a hoof to his chin. As for the rest however, they didn't even bother to listen.

Applejack skid in to get her head underneath Bloom and flip her up onto her back. "You—you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, you hear?" There were yells of agreement from Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow.

"She'll gobble you up in a big tasty stew—", Pinkie sang.

"Oh, brother.", Twilight grumbled.

"Beware! Beware!", Zecora continued to warn as she disappeared into the mist.

Rainbow was now standing in a patch of the blue-leaved plants as she said, "Yeah, back at you, Zecora! You and your lame curse are the ones who better beware!"

Bloom glared at the pegasus as her sister then did likewise to her and said, "And you! Why couldn't you just listen to your big sister?"

"I…I…"

"Who knows what kinda nasty curse Zecora coulda just put on you?"

"Just like in my song!", Pinkie agreed as she started to sing again while jumping around among the strangely hued vegetation. "Evil enchantress, with the dances, and the trances—"

"You guys, there's no such thing as curses!", Twilight interjected.

Rainbow flew low through the plants. "Well, that's interesting to hear—" She then taped Twilight's horn. "—coming from Miss Magic-Pants herself."

"My magic, real magic, comes from within. It's a skill you're born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations, all smoke and mirrors meant to scare. But curses have no real power. They're just an old pony tale."

However, the others were already walking out of the forest through a patch of plants that have seemingly grown to fill most of the open area. Applejack hung back, not noticing that Bloom had climbed down and was nowhere in sight.

"Just you wait, Twilight.", she warned as she walked off. "You're gonna learn that some pony tales really are true."

"I'm gonna have to partially agree with Applejack.", Chronicle stated as the two began to follow them out of the forest. "Unicorn magic like yours, Rarity's, and mine is just one of many kinds of magic that exist in Equestria. Potion magic and incantation magic are as real as uni—Whoa!" He accidentally tripped and got a face-full of the flowers, but quickly got up in a second. "as real As unicorn magic, just not as well-known or well-accepted. I should know as I've traveled a lot and have seen a lot. Now let's go home and rest. I plan to track down Zecora tomorrow and clear up some matters and see her for what she truly is, not just what others say about her."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB—Z

Nighttime…

As Chronicle (and his charge) slept for the night, he was assaulted by strange visions and spoken words.

_She's an evil enchantress, she does evil dances—_ The voice was Pinkie Pie's.

_Beware! Beware!_ Now it was Zecora's.

_you look deep in her eyes, she will put you in trances—_ Pinkie again.

_Yeah, was that supposed to scare us?_ Rainbow Dash.

_Wicked, wicked zebra!_ Rarity.

_She's good…with a curse._ Fluttershy.

_Then what will she do?_ Pinkie. Again.

_Just you wait, Twilight. Some pony tales really are true._ Applejack.

_Then she'll gobble you up in a big tasty stew, So…watch out!_ Pinkie Pie yet again.

_Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!_ Zecora again. _Those leaves of blue are not a joke!_

_...leaves of blue are not a joke!_

_...not a joke!_

As those final words continued to echo in his head, in an instant, Chronicle opened his eyes in deep realization. "Uh-oh!", he muttered. Before he could do anything else, he quickly dropped off to sleep.

C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS—C—TS

The next morning…

Chronicle didn't feel so good. It was like his body was somehow…different. For the first time ever in Equestria, he woke up early and put a hoof to his face. He gave a sigh and said, "Darn, I didn't sleep well last night." He didn't realize it sounded…different. He began to flick his tail around, only to find out it was slightly heavier than before.

"What a dream.", he heard his charge say. "Curses, schmurses."

Chronicle then got up as well, and realized there was hair framing both sides of his head. _Wuh…did somepony decide to pull a hair-growing prank on me?_

"Whoa!", he heard his charge give a chuckle. Maybe Zecora cursed my hair."

Chronicle moaned as he got up from bed, and as he landed on the floor felt his body was…different. Just then, his musings of this were cut off by a scream from Twilight. He quickly turned to her; she was in front of a vanity, and she had been brushing her messed-up mane before she 'dropped' the brush in surprise.

"What's wrong?!", Chronicle asked as he ran to the mirror, then noticed his voice was completely different form his own. Not only was it lighter, it sounded like his sister's. Once he reached the mirror, he saw two strange things. One was that while his charge's bangs have been sorted out, her horn was covered with blue spots and was drooping as though it had been turned to rubber.

"Or she cursed my horn!", she said.

The second strange thing was that he himself has taken a completely different appearance. His mane was now smooth, at neck-length with two bangs flanking his face, his tail was longer, and his muzzle was more curved. He gulped at what he guessed has happened; he has turned into a mare. To be more precise, he has taken the appearance of his sister Timerity.

C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- In front of the mirror, on the left is Chronicle now looking like Timerity. On the right is Twilight Sparkle with her blue-spotted floppy horn. The show's logo is seen on the upper right.

C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G—C—RD—PP—G

Twilight, and Chronicle were at the library's reading room with Spike, searching the whole place for a clue to their condition. So far, they had little success.

"No, no, no, no, no!", Twilight complained. "None of these books have a cure!"

"This place **really** needs a card catalog.", Chronicle also complained, the paused for a moment. "It's still strange hearing this voice come out of my mouth."

"There has to be a real reason for this! An illness? An allergy?"

"A curse!", Spike suggested, having pulled down a green-bound book with a plant on its cover and was perusing it closely.

"I said a **real** reason. Something that points to something real."

"How about this one?" Spike showed her the cover.

"Supernaturals? Spike, the word 'supernatural' refers to things like ghosts and spirits and zombies—" Twilight then shoved the book away. "—which are as make-believe as curses. This book is just a bunch of hooey!"

"Judging a book by its cover?", Chronicle snarked, and somehow it sounded more so with a girl's voice. "You have got to be kidding me…" He then turned to Spike. "Let me see that." He then 'took' the book from Spike's hands and started looking into it. (3)

"But what if you're wrong, Twilight?", Spike asked. "What if this really is a—"

They were cut off by Pinkie Pie, who has entered the library. Her tongue was covered with the same blue spots as those on Twilight's horn and has swollen so badly that it protruded from her mouth. As a result, her speech was nearly unintelligible and accompanied by frequent sprays of saliva that collected in a pool before her.

"A curse!", the pink earth pony said through her swollen tongue.

"A purse?", Spike asked. "How could it be a purse?"

"Pinkie! What happened?", Twilight asked.

"It was Zecora!", Pinkie accused as she drenched Spike with spit. "She put a curse on us!"

"Hey, say it, don't spray it, Pinkie!", Spike said.

"It's not a curse.", said Chronicle as he looked up from the book. "I'm sure those flowers we've brushed at in the forest—" He was cut off by something thumping against the building hard enough to shake it.

"Ow!", they heard Rainbow Dash from outside. They turned to the window next to the door and there she was, ramming against the glass in a display of poor flight control that was unusual even for her. A close look reveals that her wings have been turned upside down.

"She's…trying to say, ow…Zecora…", she said between thuds, with occasional grunts. The next thud missed the window but hit the wall hard enough to crack it. The following thud knocked the door off its hinges by a lunge that sends Rainbow hurtling upside down across the room. "…she slapped us all with a…" She then crashed onto the shelves and tangled herself up in the ladder propped against them. "…ow! Curse!"

"Rainbow, would you please just walk?", Chronicle pleaded before returning to reading the book.

"I'm afraid I have to agree.", came Rarity's voice as she walked in. Her mane, tail, and coat have grown and matted into thick dreadlock-like strands that gave her a distinct resemblance to either a sheepdog or a walking mop. She blew uselessly at the purple hair hanging in her face, prompting cries of shock from Twilight and Spike. While Chronicle just rolled his eyes and continued to read the book Twilight vehemently refused to even consider looking into, Rainbow dragged herself and the ladder over to the others.

"As I was saying, I think the flowers are the—", Chronicle said before being cut off again.

"I hate to say I told you so, Twilight, but I told you so!", came Applejack's voice, but she sounded like she had been inhaling helium.

_Speaking of which, do their balloons get filled up with helium? Do they— No, focus! Must focus! Those girly hormones must be getting into me._ Chronicle then turned to look at Applejack, only to raise his eyebrows in surprise as he saw her—shrunken—standing on Apple Bloom's back. Fluttershy was right behind them and she walked up next to Rarity.

There came a gasp from Twilight and Spike. ""It's a curse, I tells you!"

"But…Fluttershy seems just fine!", said Chronicle, noting that she seemed to be a bit upset. "And Apple Bloom too.", he added under his breath.

"Yes.", Rarity agreed. "There doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with her."

"Fluttershy? Are you okay?", asked Twilight. Fluttershy just turned her face away. "Is there something wrong with you?"A nod. "Would you care to tell us?" Eyebrows lower. "So…you're not gonna tell us." A nod. "'Yes, you're not?' or 'yes, you will'?" A head shake.

Applejack rushed across the table in the center of the room. "Good gravy, girl!", she asked the pegasus. "What's wrong with you?"

There followed a full two seconds of total silence, after which Fluttershy spoke—in a slow, deep, gravelly male voice. **"I don't want to talk about it."**

For some reason, this got Chronicle more than merely being elated as he promptly 'let go' of his book, dropping it to the floor, and turned to face Fluttershy, seemingly charmed, and hearts floating up from him, just like with Spike upon first seeing Rarity. He began to stare into her eyes, as if pleading for her to speak again, which he was. A few seconds later, as he then noticed the others staring at him, he then began to shake his head vigorously, snapping out of his 'spell', and slam it onto a wall as the hearts popped away. "Can't! Must! Resist! Urge! To! Arrgh!"

As he then began to clutch his head, banishing all perverted and romantic thoughts out of his mind, which he attributed to…whatever was making him feel this way, Rainbow's wings flapped randomly, causing her to tumble to the floor, and turning everyone else's faces away from the stallion-turned-mare. Spike laughed uproariously, completely ignoring the angry look Twilight aimed at him.

"This is hilarious! Look at all of you! We got…" He turned to each victim in turn and indicated them. "…Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Spittie Pie, Apple Teeny, Flutterguy, umm…Twilight Flopple…" He then turned to Chronicle. "…and…uh…I got nothin'." He then gave an aside glance, pointing at him. "Chronicle. I mean, seriously, I can't even work with that. Oh, wait, I know. Chroni-girl!"

"Aha, aha, aha.", Chronicle chuckled sarcastically as he rubbed his head and. It was more painful banging one's head when there's a horn protruding from the forehead.

"This is no joke, Spike.", Twilight said. "Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure!"

However, her assistant's eyes have been drawn to her overly flexible horn, prompting him to bite back a fresh laugh. Getting it under control, he went to the bookshelves and grumbled.

Meanwhile, Rainbow managed to pull loose from the ladder and hovered unsteadily. "I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!", she suggested.

"It's not a curse!", Twilight countered as Rainbow rocketed backward, resulting in a loud crash.

"I agree with Dash.", Applejack said as Rainbow kept veering around crazily. "We'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex."

"It's not a hex either!"

As the mares launched into a six-way argument, Chronicle tried to speak up. "Girls?!" But they weren't paying attention at all. He then groaned to himself. "I seriously hope Timerity's friends aren't this idiotic.", he muttered as he—for some reason—snuck his way out of the library. His plan was to go to the Everfree Forest to confront Zecora. While he doesn't think she is to blame for what's happened to him and his friends, he hopes that she has the cure for their affliction.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB

Meanwhile, in the alternate world of 'Solaris Equestria'…

Timerity let out a sneeze. For some reason, her body was as large as that of Big Macintosh from the Equestria her brother was in or, she noted, that of one of her friends Applejack.

"What was that all about?", Timerity asked. Unlike Chronicle, her voice was still the same. "I know I didn't get sick or anything."

"Timerity!", a voice called. "I need you down here!"

"Coming, Dusk!" (4)

T—DS—T—DS—T—DS—T—DS—T—DS—T—DS

Back in 'Equestria Prime'…

As Chronicle made his way to the path Zecora took to the Everfree Forest, he heard galloping from behind and turned to see Apple Bloom headed the same way he was going.

"Apple Bloom!", he called. "Where're you headed?"

"It's all my fault.", she explained as she stopped. "If I hadn't followed Zecora in the first place, none of this woulda happened."

"I kinda have to agree with you there."

"I gotta fix this. I just gotta."

"Well, you're welcome to join me.", the stallion-turned-mare gladly offered. "I was headed to Zecora's too."

Just before they could resume their walk, they heard a squeaky voice. "Stop right there!" It came from Bloom's mane and Applejack popped out from there. "You two turn around right now!"

Instead of doing as she is told, Bloom aimed a mischievous smile up toward the top of her head. "No.", the filly replied.

"You're not the boss of me.", said Chronicle.

"No?! You can't ignore a direct order from your big sister!"

Applejack suddenly found herself covered in a blue aura and she was lifted up. Chronicle was the culprit as he 'placed' her on a convenient branch.

Bloom gave a laugh and said, "Sorry, Applejack, but I'm the big sister now."

"I think 'elder sister' is the more correct term, given your current size.", corrected the blue unicorn.

"You two come back here right this instant! I'm gonna tell Big Macintosh on you!"

"You're not **my** sister!", Chronicle said as Bloom began to run off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to make sure your younger sis remains unharmed." With that, he caught up with the filly and they vanished from Applejack's sight.

With her out of the way, both filly and stallion-turned-mare continued running down the forest path until they located a house built into a tree. They could see a totem-like animal carving in front of the tree-house, whose limbs and roots have contorted with extreme age. Several bottles hung on strings from the branches, and set into the trunk were a couple of windows and a door with a leafy mask mounted above it.

"Ya think this is the place?", asked Bloom.

"Only one way to find out."

Together, the two ponies approached the window and peered through it. The walls were covered with thatched-reed mats, making the place resemble a hut more than a typical house. Littering the place were candles, jugs, more masks on the walls, and bottles strung from the ceiling.

"Creepy…", was all Bloom could say before noticing the place's inhabitant.

Inside the house was Zecora, no longer wearing her cloak, who seemed to be adding ingredients into a black cauldron. As Bloom just watched the zebra pick up bottles with her teeth and tip their contents, Chronicle took a closer look at the zebra's dark blue-green eyes, trying to read her expression (and noting her simplistic spiral sunburst cutie mark) as she spoke in some foreign language. As far as he could tell, there was no malicious intent in them, which his friends (save Twilight, at least for now) all seemed to attribute Zecora with.

"What do you suggest we do, Bloom?", Chronicle asked.

The filly was surprised at his question. "You askin' me?"

"I learned that kids sometimes have bright ideas when the adults are being useless at the time."

"I'm not a kid, I'm a filly."

"Whoops. I usually call those about your age or maturity—pony or not—kids."

"Oh. Umm…I think we should go talk to her."

"…If you say so." Again, Bloom was surprised that Chronicle agreed with her so easily. "Just remember that should anything go wrong I'm getting us out of here." Together, they went to the door, and Bloom rapped at it. A few seconds later, the door was opened by Zecora and the two expected the worst.

C—A—AB—C—A—AB—C—A—AB—C—A—AB

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type)- Chronicle and Apple Bloom stand in front of the door of Zecora's hut and knock on it. The door then opens to reveal Zecora in her cloak and yellow eyes.

C—A—AB—C—A—AB—C—A—AB—C—A—AB

"Wow. I still can't believe Zecora's actually a nice pony.", Apple Bloom said.

"She's a zebra.", Chronicle corrected. "And zebras aren't part of the pony species that consist of the pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn subspecies."

The two of them were walking down a path in the Everfree Forest, wearing saddlebags on their backs filled with all kinds of plants. Just as they passed some blue flowers (but not the ones from yesterday), Chronicle stopped to check them out. There were red stripes on these flowers. The petals were shaped like a twelve-pointed mostly-blue star, with red lines running from the tips of the petals down the stem. They also smelled like dandelions.

Noting that, he 'took out' a small leather-bound book—Zecora's plant book—and started 'flipping' its pages. Bloom noticed her companion stop and walked back and asked what was keeping him.

"Aha. The _uchawi maua_. Also known as the ether flower.", he read as he skipped the description. "Okay. The stem is very toxic, but the petals aren't. They grow low to the ground and feed on magic. Their seeds only grow in the Everfree Forest. Comsuming the petals, along with some grass, will restore magic power and cure overchanneling." _Hmm…I wonder if _Everfree soil_ has nutrients the ether flowers need that other soils outside the forest don't have. If so…_

"Overchannelin'?", Bloom asked, interrupting his thoughts. "What's that?"

"Do you know the exhaustion you feel after running a marathon?" Bloom nodded. "Well, overchanneling is like that, but with magic instead of stamina."

"Oh. …We already got everythin' Zecora needed, and I don't remember ether flowers bein' in her list."

"Well, perhaps after all this, I plan to ask her if she can make some ethers with these flowers." Chronicle then 'returned' Zecora's plant book in the saddlebag. "Help me pick up some, would you?"

Together, the two ponies plucked petals, careful not to touch the stems, and put them in the saddlebags. Now that that was over with, they resumed their was back to Zecora's hut when they heard a faint crash. And it seemed to be coming from the hut. Bloom didn't notice it, but Chronicle did.

"I got a bad feeling about this.", he said to himself as he picked up the pace. Bloom followed suit after noticing her companion was moving faster.

As they did so, it was becoming more and more apparent that the commotion was indeed coming from Zecora's hut. "What's happenin'?", Bloom asked.

"If I were to guess, my friends and your sister have found Zecora's hut and are—" There came another crash. "—storming it."

"Stormin' it?"

"In any case—" Another crash. "—we got to hurry."

And hurried they did. In less than a minute, they reached the hut, where they found Twilight and company confronting Zecora, and definitely not in a good way, with Applejack twisting the zebra's left ear. His charge was currently butting heads with Zecora.

"Girls!", Chronicle cried out, and everyone inside the hut turned to face them. "What in Ponyville is going on here?" He then turned to Zecora. "Anyway, Zecora, we found all the things you asked for."

"Apple Bloom!", Applejack called out. "You're okay!"

"Chronicle!", Twilight called in unison with Applejack. "You're safe!"

"Why wouldn't I be?", Bloom and Chronicle asked, the former with an upbeat tone and the latter with confusion as Twilight moved to guard them.

"Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you both up into soup!", she spoke in rapidfire.

To everyone's confusion, both filly and zebra managed a smile, then laughed as if it was a joke. Chronicle just groaned and smacked himself in the face.

"You seriously think **she** can bring me down?", the bodyguard grumbled as he indicated Zecora. "You saw me hold my own against…" He paused, careful not to mention Nightmare Moon to the zebra. "…her."

"Oh, Twilight…", said Bloom. "…did those silly fillies finally get in your head? You know there's no such thing as a curse. "

"Apple Bloom, sweetie, you can't just stand there and tell me **this** isn't a curse." Twilight pointed at the other afflicted on "this."

"This isn't a curse.", Bloom said as she crossed to Zecora.

"Yeah.", agreed Chronicle. "It's an affliction caused by those blue flowers we stumbled into yesterday when following Apple Bloom."

"If you will remember back, The words I spoke were quite exact.", Zecora added.

"'Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!'", the bodyguard quoted word-for-word.

"It was a warnin', about that blue plant. It's called 'poison joke'.", Bloom explained.

"That plant is much like poison oak," Zecora then chuckled. "But its results are like a joke."

Applejack poked out of the zebra's mane. "What in the hay does that mean?"

"It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead, this plant just wants a laugh."

"Will somepony please talk normal?"

"I think what she's saying is that when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke.", Twilight clarified. "All of our problems are just little jokes it played on us."

"Little jokes?!" Applejack was not impressed. "Very funny."

"To be exact, it takes whatever its victim take pride on, desires, or some other personal strength and inverts it somehow, like some kind of cruel joke.", Chronicle said as he turned to each of his friends and addressed them in turn. "Twilight, you take pride in your magic, hence your floppy horn. Applejack, you were acting the overprotective 'big sister' at the time, hence your diminutive size. Pinkie, you kept rambling all those bad things about Zecora, hence your swollen tongue. Rainbow, you take pride in your flying skills, hence your inverted wings. Rarity, ever so prideful of your appearance, I think the 'joke' on you is obvious. Fluttershy, your voice is so soothing and feminine, hence the manly voice. As for me, I get mistaken for a mare at first all the time, so…"

Rainbow then stepped forward and asked. "Okay, fine. But…what about the cauldron?"

**"And the chanting?"**, asked Fluttershy, and Chronicle found himself charmed again, a few hearts floating from his head, and began slamming Zecora's plant book on his face over and over, trying to resist any more inappropriate thoughts.

"And the creepy décor?", added Rarity.

Zecora eyed a couple of masks that have wound up on the floor thanks to Rainbow Dash. While Chronicle and Bloom were on their way back, Rainbow had slammed them to the floor. "Treasures of the native land where I am from. This one speaks 'hello,' and this, 'welcome.'"

"Not welcoming at all, if you ask me."

"Each culture has their own methods in things that outsiders don't understand or appreciate.", explained Chronicle as he rubbed his head after he was done smacking himself. "It helps to keep an open mind."

"The words I chanted were from olden times— Something you call a nursery rhyme.", said Zecora.

"But—the cauldron!", Twilight asked. "The Chronicle and Apple Bloom soup?"

"Looky here, Twilight.", the filly said. "That pot of water wasn't for us, it was for all these herbal ingredients."

"Although I picked up a couple other stuff as we did our errand, Zecora.", Twilight's charge added. "A couple of _uchawi maua_ petals. I was wondering if you could make some ethers out of them." The zebra put a hoof to her chin for a second, then nodded.

Twilight noticed an open book, different from the one Chronicle had with him, on a table and walked over to skim it. "The cure for poison joke is a simple all-natural remedy." Bloom then lifted her elder sister on one hoof. "You just gotta take a bubble bath. "

"And we're lucky it can be made this time of year. If there is no brew available, poison joke can also be cured by really, really powerful magic. If **that** is also unavailable, it at least wears off in a couple weeks."

"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything.", said Twilight. "What book has this natural remedy?"

"Actually, we have that book.", Chronicle stated as he closed the book, showing that it was Supernaturals. "Supernaturals. Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls That Are Simply Super. To think that you'd judge a book by its cover…shame on you, Twilight, shame on you. We had the answer the whole time, if only **you** bothered to check it out."

Zecora chuckled, looking over the group. "Maybe next time, you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book." Bloom laughed at the end of this.

"Zecora, would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?", Twilight asked.

"Mix it up, I certainly will, yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville.", agreed the zebra.

"But whenever Zecora comes to town, all the shops are mysteriously closed.", said Bloom.

"Oh! Well…" Twilight gave a smile. "…I think we can help you with that."

"Hold up. There's something I want to do before we leave. Could you all please line up?" With slight confusion, one by one, Chronicle's friends did as he asked, with Applejack standing on Rainbow's back. Once that was done, he walked up in front of all of them and 'procured' a red small paddle of some kind. It was made of wood and looked like something Spike could hold with ease. Then, with a stern and cross look, Chronicle proceeded to 'smack' the mares all in the face one by one with it, 'lifting' the small Applejack upon passing her by and 'dropping' her once he was done. The smack he did on Fluttershy and Twilight wasn't as hard as what he did on the rest though. (5)

"Ow!", Rainbow groaned as Chronicle 'returned' his paddle. "What was that for?!"

"You think I could let you get away with thrashing Zecora's hut just like that?! Not to mention all the discrimination!" He then turned to Zecora. "That's not to say you weren't at fault either."

"How so, Chronicle?", the zebra asked.

"Well, you did **nothing**, nothing at all, to dissuade the townsponies' suspicions of you, and while you probably wouldn't know of that as they all just hid from you, there's also the vague and cryptic warning you made to us about the poison joke. Had you been clearer in your words—and I'm sure you could've done that even with your tendency to rhyme—we wouldn't have got into this whole mess in the first place." Chronicle waved around at the destruction in the hut, then gave a neutral expression. "Now, let's head to Ponyville and fix this matter up."

As they began to make their way out, with Chronicle in the lead, he suddenly paused. "Hold on a second." He then turned back to the others, particularly the ones who said all those ill things about Zecora. "If you all had been scared even to **look** at Zecora, let alone **speak** to her, how did you even so much as figure out her **name** in the first place?!"

His friends, sans his charge, looked at each other, not knowing how to answer his question. he then turned to the only filly.

"And Bloom, didn't you walk into the poison joke as well? How is it you look—and sound—" He glanced at Fluttershy at this word. "—Perfectly fine?" He then turned to Zecora. "Do foals have an immunity to the poison joke that goes away upon maturity, or does she somehow have no definitive trait for the flower to twist?"

"I think we can ask all that another time.", Twilight cut him off. "The sooner we get ourselves cured, the better."

"Fine."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB—Z

Later…

Together, the nine equines (Zecora decided to put her cloak on) entered the town. And naturally, the whole town was in a panic and had proceeded to hide in their homes as the group approached a herb/flower shop which was tended to by three earth pony mares. The first was named Lily, who had a bright fuchsia-colored coat, light yellow eyes, long creamy blond hair, and a lily blossom tucked behind one ear, and three of those flowers as her cutie mark. The second was named Rose, who had two-tone burgundy-and-pink hair, deep green eyes, an off-white cream-colored coat, and a rose cutie mark. The third was named Daisy, who had a vivid pink coat, curly light green hair, jade eyes, and a cutie mark of two daisies.

"Look, Rose!", said Daisy as she noticed the group come over. "How awful!

"The wicked enchantress has cursed them all!", cried out Rose.

"The horror!", yelled Lily as she put her fore-hooves to her face. "The horror!"

She then bailed out to the accompaniment of panicked screams. Rose bolted into her house, slamming the door. The other two took cover in the shop, where Twilight knocked its door a few seconds later. Daisy opened it a crack and peeked out.

"Daisy, we need to talk.", she said.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB—Z—D—R—L

After the matter was cleared up…

Everyone was now gathered at the spa. A hot tub was ordered for everyone to dunk into. Chronicle was a bit uncomfortable with this as even though he was a mare now, he was still a stallion at mind and heart and would soon be so in body after taking the bath. However, he was assured that while almost no stallions go to the spa, it was perfectly okay to do so alongside mares.

He was now in front of the tub on a semicircular platform in between a potted plant and a bucket filled with bottles of bath additives sitting with a rack of towels, still deciding on how to get in. Zecora and Bloom were standing on the other side of the platform close to the set of steps leading up to it from the floor while Rainbow hovered above him with her wings back on straight. Fluttershy and Rarity were already in the bath, the latter restored to normal appearance.

Twilight was in the tub as well, off to the side opposite Chronicle's position. As she then dunked her head in, Pinkie jumped from the ceiling (how she got there no one knew) and came down on the pool for a belly flop. There was a huge splash and the two who descended into the water surfaced, healed of their ailments, and laughed as Rainbow, Bloom, and Zecora poured more herbs into the water. As Zecora and Bloom smiled at each other, Rainbow lowered herself into the water with a relaxed sigh.

Just then, an earth pony mare joined Zecora and Bloom on the platform. Her coat was light blue, her mane and tail pink and glossy, and her eyes dark blue. The mane was held back with a white headband, and she sported a necklace in the same color and a lotus-blossom cutie mark. It was Lotus, who works at the spa.

"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath.", she said. "It's simply luxurious!"

The zebra smiled at the remark, but was cut off sharply as Bloom gasped. "Applejack! Hey! Where's Applejack?"

As the five bathing ponies looked frantically around themselves in the water, Chronicle just rolled his eyes and pointed down to the floor level below.

"She's over there.", he said, indicating Applejack—back to normal size—sitting with her rump wedged into a wooden teacup. Apparently, she got her own small bath and had quickly felt its effects.

"That's right…little sis.", the farmpony said. "I ain't tiny no more."

"Oh, I have never felt so lovely in all my life!", said Rarity.

Pinkie popped up next to her and started yakking at full speed—and, for good or ill, completely intelligibly. "Oh my gosh! I never realized how horrible it is, not to be able to talk!" Rainbow covered her ears with a groan. "I mean, I love talking so much, and when I couldn't talk anymore, my tongue was all 'bleech'." She stuck her tongue out on this word. "It was the worst! Don't you agree, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy turned this over for a moment or three, then opened her mouth and spoke. "Yes." That one word, in her normal sweet voice, confirmed the effectiveness of Zecora's remedy on all six mares.

"Oh, thank goodness!", Chronicle gave a sigh of relief.

Then, in all of a sudden, Pinkie surfaced and grabbed him by the forelegs. "Come on, Chronicle!" She then pulled him in and on impact with the water, he could feel his body change from within as he pushed the pink earth pony off of him. As he surfaced, he could feel his tail return to its normal length and his friends could see his mane resume its usual shape.

"Don't to that, Pinkie!", he complained, then caught himself upon realizing that his voice was back to normal as well, then noticed all of his (female) friends looking at him. He then did something he would never hear the end of; blush profusely with a bashful smile. After all, he was in a bathtub with girls and they were all without clothes (not that they wear any anyway normally). This resulted in a laugh from everypony else, Zecora included.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—AB—Z—L

_"Dear Princess Celestia: My friends and I (save Chronicle, who already knew) all learned an important lesson this week. Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual or funny or scary, but you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your cover is. It's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." _(6)

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Timerity won't make a regular appearance, just be around for Chronicle's thoughts. As well as a little expansive info about the Story Crew.  
(2) Mystic Shield won't be around every chapter. He'll be a minor one, like Spike.  
(3) While Chronicle might have turned into a mare (or just had his appearance changed to match his sister's assumed form), I'm not changing the pronouns accordingly as per tradition on "transgendered" characters.  
(4) The short with Timerity is just for those suspicions of when you think of someone, that someone sneezes. It's just a gag called—in TV Tropes—the "sneeze cut". By the way, in case it isn't obvious, she's situated in the Equestria whose ruler is Prince/Lord Solaris, male counterpart of Princess Celestia. I thank the writer of _On a Cross and Arrow_, which I based this little scene on.  
(5) The slapping session will come back in later episodes, especially where they may seem to be jerks or inconsiderate, like in _Party of One_, _Lesson Zero_ or _The Mysterious Mare Do Well_.  
(6) I couldn't find a better way to implement the lesson learnt, although we already know that, having watched the show.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	8. Chapter 3: The Ticket Master

Pinkie Pie: Finally! The Ticket Master!

nightelf37: Yes, Pinkie. After all those other episodes, I'm doing "The Ticket Master".

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity from last chapter, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 3: The Ticket Master**

Daytime in Sweet Apple Acres…

Carrying baskets of apples on their backs, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle (with Spike on her back), and Chronicle were walking together down the farm's orchards. As Spike was inspecting apples and tossing them away, the sole stallion among them was 'catching' them and 'placing' them into his basket, which wasn't that full. Also, he tried catching the apples with his mouth on occasion, eating them when he does.

"Thank you kindly, guys, for helpin' me out.", Applejack said as she jostled her own baskets slightly. I bet Big Macintosh I could get all these Golden Delicious in the barn by lunchtime."

_These aren't Golden Delicious apples._ Chronicle thought. _If I recall correctly from my cousin's friend's apple farm, real Golden Delicious apples are yellow or light green, not red like what we're carrying._

Applejack then added giddily, "If I win, he's gonna walk down Stirrup Street in one o' Granny's girdles!"

_Then again, apples are probably named differently in Equestria._

"No problem at all, Applejack.", Twilight replied. "I'm glad the goal is lunchtime. All this hard work is making me hungry."

"I know, right?", Spike agreed as his next apple bounced off her head. She gave an annoyed glare and he gave a sheepish grin in return.

"Puh-lease, Spike. You've been lounging on my back all morning while we worked."

"Exactly! You two are taking so long, I missed snack time."

As if on cue, Twilight's gut began to rumble. She gave him a nervous look and giggled. "I guess we better get some food."

As he was at the back of the line, none of them noticed Chronicle filch a single apple from his load and put it in "hammerspace". _I should remember to pack emergency food supplies even if I'm just gonna stick around in town._

"Nope…worm…", Spike said, then found a bright red one. "Aha!"

Twilight licked her chops on seeing it. "Oh, Spike! That looks delicious!" But he abruptly yanked it away. A chomp, a spatter of juice in her face, and he had disposed of it in one bite. Naturally, Twilight was furious. "Spike!"

"What?", he asked after swallowing the apple. Just after, he suddenly made as if to vomit, but instead let off a belch of green fire that materialized into a scroll, which floated down to the quartet.

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia!", said Chronicle as Spike took it, cleared his throat, and unrolled it.

"Hear ye, hear ye.", Spike read. "Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala, to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot on the twenty-first day of…" He then decided to skim ahead. "…yadda-yadda-yadda…" He then stopped at the end of the letter. "cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus two guests."

The news took a moment to sink into the three ponies' brains; then the mares' faces brightened as they all gasped. "The Grand Galloping Gala!"

The two mares then jumped in place with excitement, saying the event's name again. The sole stallion wasn't as enthusiastic. Spike, meanwhile, was having none of it. As they carried on, now having got off of Twilight, he made a disgusted face and stuck a finger toward his open mouth as if to make himself vomit. The real gag reflex then kicked in once again. This time, his flaming belch resolved into a trio of gold tickets that floated down toward him.

"Look!", the baby dragon said as he held them up. "Three tickets!"

"Wow, great!", said Twilight. "I've never been to the Gala. Have you, Chronicle?"

"I have, actually.", he said. "Been there with a charge of mine. Didn't like him at all, though."

"Why not?"

"He was a snob, like most Canterlot royalty and politicians, Princesses Celestia and Luna aside. Among all my charges I've had to guard, he was the **worst** ever. However, thanks to him, Princess Celestia got to know of me and created the contract that first bound me to you."

"Wow, that's…interesting." She then turned to her assistant. "How about you, Spike?"

"No, and I plan to keep it that way. I don't want any of that girly frilly frou-frou nonsense."

"Aw, come on, Spike. A dance would be nice."

"Nice?", Applejack cut in. "It's a heap good more than just nice! I'd love to go. Land sakes!" She then looked up as if imagining something. "If I had an apple stand set up, ponies'd be chawin' our tasty vittles 'til the cows came home! Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up 'round here."

By this point, he could tell that Applejack was exaggerating. "We could replace that saggy ol' roof! And Big Macintosh could replace that saggy ol' plow! And Granny Smith could replace that saggy ol' hip! Why, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that Gala."

"Oh!", said Twilight. "Well, in that case, would you like to—"

They were cut off by a cry from above. "WHOA!" Instinctively, Chronicle placed a barrier around his friends as Rainbow Dash smashed into the barrier from above, sliding off of it after a few seconds.

"Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?", the pegasus asked as the barrier was dismissed.

"Rainbow Dash!", Applejack chastised. "You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples! What were you busy doin'? Spyin'?"

Rainbow waved her off dismissively. "No, I was busy…" She then pointed up to a tree in which a pillow and blanket have been placed. "…napping." She then proceeded to hover upside down near Twilight. "And I just happened to hear that you have an extra ticket?"

Twilight was obviously uneasy at this. "Yeah, but—"

Rainbow backed off, doing a loop. "YES! This is so awesome! The Wonderbolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year. I can see it now."

"Here we go.", groaned Chronicle.

F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K

_Two days before the fiasco with Zecora…_

_Since Spike was always the one supposed to assist Twilight in her work, in spite of being more than willing to lend a hoof, Chronicle was given some free time. Mystic Shield had needed a quick bit and had temporarily closed up as he took a request at the Request Board._

_He had already did his daily practice and was without something to do. And then he ran into Pinkie Pie, who told him about Rainbow Dash practicing her moves that day. With nothing left to do for that day, not even a request he could take, he decided to accompany her._

_Ten minutes later, the two ponies sat together in a meadow, watching Rainbow do her stuff._

"Everyone would be watching the sky, their eyes riveted on the Wonderbolts."_, Rainbow said in the present. _"But then, in would fly…"_ In the sky, Rainbow entered their view with a sharp U-turn, breaking a cloud apart in the process._

"…Rainbow Dash! I would draw their attention with my Super Speed Strut."

_She proceeded to fly in a low altitude, touching the ground with her hooves, making it look like she was trotting. Pinkie whooped in cheer while Chronicle remained silent, although he gave a smile._

"Then I would mesmerize 'em with my Fantastic Filly Flash."

_Then, Rainbow ascended for a few seconds before swooping into a nosedive straight for her friends, only to pull out just above their heads._

"And for my grand finale, the Buccaneer Blaze!"

_She then gained speed as she rose into the air. Chronicle couldn't remember what happened next other than a sudden blast of brilliant light. His jaw dropped at the sight, but Pinkie's jaw dropped much lower, straight down to the ground in fact._

E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K

"The ponies would go wild! The Wonderbolts would insist that my signature moves be incorporated into their routine. And then, welcome me as their newest member."

With that, Rainbow finally landed on the ground. "Don't you see, Twilight? This could be my one chance to show 'em my stuff! You gotta take me!"

Suddenly, Applejack pulled her back, tail in teeth. "Hold on just one pony-pickin' minute here!" She then spit it out. I asked for that ticket first."

"So? That doesn't mean you own it."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I challenge you to a hoof-rassle. Winner gets the ticket."

At a nearby stump, thee two locked left forelegs and go for it. The contest remained deadlocked for a few seconds before Twilight shoved them apart.

"Girls! These are my tickets.", she told them. "I'll decide who gets it, thank you very much. Whoever has the best reason to go should get the ticket, don't you think?"

Applejack moved forward. "Drummin' up business for the farm?"

Rainbow did likewise. "A chance to audition for the Wonderbolts?"

"Money to fix Granny's hip!"

"Living the dream!"

Twilight looked at the two alternately, starting to realize what she has gotten herself into.

"Oh, my. Those are all pretty good reasons, aren't they?"

"Although I'd probably choose Applejack.", butted in Chronicle, which earned him a harsh stare from Rainbow. But before the pegasus could speak her mind, Twilight's empty stomach spoke up again.

Twilight laughed nervously at this. "Listen to that. I am starving." She then started to back off. "I don't know about you, but I can't make important decisions on an empty stomach." Spike hopped on her back and her bodyguard trotted up beside her. "So I'll, uh, think about it over lunch and get back to you two. Okay?"

The three then left, leaving two dejected ponies in their wake. "Okay.", their two friends conceded…then resumed their hoof-wrestling match.

C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD

At Ponyville…

Chronicle made a stop at Graphite's weapon store, where its storekeeper just finished selling a hatchet to a customer.

"Thanks for the purchase.", Graphite said to his departing customer, then noticed the blue stallion, his charge, and her assistant.

Hey there, Chronicle.", Graphite greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Who's this?", Twilight asked her charge.

"Oh, sorry." Chronicle gestured to the black stallion. "This is Graphite, an armor and weapons trader." He then gestured to his charge and her dragon assistant. "Graphite, this is Twilight Sparkle, librarian of the Books and Branches Library, and this is Spike, her number one assistant."

"Hello there.", greeted the mare.

"Hi.", greeted the dragon.

Chronicle then turned to Graphite. "Curious question. Do you know any blacksmiths in the town?" He then 'procured' from "hammerspace" a certain familiar item.

"Where'd you get that?", asked Spike as he saw it.

"Is that…the river serpent's scale?", Twilight asked her bodyguard.

"The very same one Rarity plucked from Steven Magnet."

"Do I even want to know how you got that?", Graphite cut in.

Chronicle turned back to the shopkeeper as he 'returned' the scale. "No. So…"

"I do know of a blacksmith, although she works primarily as a carpenter. Her name's Mjölna." (1) Graphite then 'took' a notepad, 'wrote' on it with a quill, 'tore' off the sheet he wrote on, then 'gave' it to Chronicle. "Here's her address."

"Thanks, Graphite."

"Oh, and another thing. Don't confuse her with her twin sister Tasty Snack. They may look the same, but their cutie marks are different. Tasty's is a sandwich, and Mjölna's is a hammer in front of a lightning bolt."

"That's uncanny. Well, see ya."

With that, the three left Graphite's store and continued their stroll down Ponyville.

"So who are you gonna give the ticket to, Twilight?", Spike asked.

"I don't know, Spike, but I really can't think straight when I'm hungry."

"Well, so long as the others don't figure it out yet, my vote's on Applejack.", Chronicle said as they bypassed Sugarcube Corner.

"Why her?", Spike asked.

"Well, her dream is gonna help more ponies **close to us** than Rainbow Dash's."

"Why the emphasis on 'close to us'?"

"Applejack's helping her family financially. Rainbow Dash is just looking for fame. Which do you think is closest to being most helpful?"

"I think I see your point."

"So…where should we eat?", Twilight suddenly asked, not having paid attention to the "boy talk" behind her.

Just then, the top half of Sugarcube Corner's front door burst open and Pinkie Pie rocketed out through it for an impressive flying tackle. A barrier was brought up but it was somehow breached and dust was kicked up. Chronicle was knocked out for a second, but quickly recovered upon hearing Pinkie scream.

"Bats! Bats on my face! Heeeelp!", She cried out as she zipped back and forth, the three tickets on her nose. After a few more seconds, she finally calmed down enough to get a look at the 'bats'. "Wait! These aren't…tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?!"

_Oh dear._, groaned Chronicle as she then began to hop around and he began to hear music out of nowhere. It was a light calliope melody.

"It's the most amazing, incredible, tremendous, super-fun, wonderful, terrifically humongous party in all of Equestria! I've always, always, always wanted to go!"

Chronicle braced himself for a little song segment as Twilight and Spike began to awaken next to him.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4DjwYDLZE6A)

_Now Playing: Pinkie's Gala Fantasy Song_

_Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me_  
_Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me _  
_Hip hip hooray, it's the best place for me _  
_For Pinkie! _

Pinkie then began to speak again. "With decorations like streamers and fairy light and pinwheels and piñatas and pincushions! With goodies like sugar cubes and sugar canes and sundaes and sunbeams and sarsaparilla! And I get to play my favoritest of favorite fantabulous games, like Pin the Tail on the Pony!"

_If Pinkie Pie thinks the Gala is like a carnival, she's __**sorely**__ mistaken._

_Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me _  
_Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me _  
_'Cause it's the most gala-rific, superly terrific gala ever _  
_In the whole galaxy _  
_Whee! _

Finally, the music stopped as mysteriously as it came as his charge and fellow assistant got up completely.

_End Song_

"Oh, thank you, Twilight!", Pinkie finished as she stops an inch from the bookworm's nose. "It's the most wonderful-est gift ever!"

Twilight backed off a bit as Spike gathered up the tickets. "Um, actually…" She was cut off by a sharp gasp from Rarity looking over the shoulder of a startled Spike.

"Are these what I think they are?", the white unicorn asked.

"Uh…"

"Yes, yes, yes!", Pinkie affirmed, jumping in place. "Twilight's taking me to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot!"

Rarity gasped softly at this. "The Gala? I design ensembles for the Gala every year, but I've never had the opportunity to attend. Oh, the society, the culture, the glamour!" She then toyed with her mane. It's where I truly belong, and where I'm destined to meet…him!"

"Him! Who?" There were puzzled looks from Spike and the other two mares. As for Chronicle, he was savvy enough to guess that "him" meant a Prince Charming of sorts. Also, he mentally groaned once again as he was treated with a fourth ramble on what his friend is gonna do in the Gala.

"Him.", Rarity repeated dreamily. "I would stroll through the Gala, and everyone would wonder, 'Who is that mysterious mare?' They would never guess that I was just a simple pony from little old Ponyville. Why, I would cause such a sensation that I would be invited for an audience with Princess Celestia herself. And the Princess would be so taken with the style and elegance that she would introduce me to him, her nephew.

"The most handsome, eligible unicorn stallion in Canterlot! Our eyes would meet, our hearts would melt, our courtship would be magnificent. He would ask for my hoof in marriage, and of course I would say YES! We would have a royal wedding befitting a princess, which is…" Rarity then let out a giggle. "…what I would become upon marrying him! The stallion of my dreams."

_Uh oh._, Chronicle thought. _Little does Rarity know that __**he**__ is anything but charming. I should know. He was one of my charges and I was glad to leave his service. I wonder if I should tell her?_

"Twilight! I simply cannot believe you would invite Pinkie Pie so she can…party…and prevent me from meeting my true love! How could you?" She then turned away in a huff.

"Pinkie's just jumping to conclusions, Rarity.", the sole stallion among them told her as the pink earth pony began to jump in place. "Besides, Twilight hasn't even decided yet. And as for Celestia's nephew, he isn't really—"

He was cut off by Spike yelping. Chronicle turned to see that a small white male rabbit zipped in, snatched the tickets, and zipped out, scampering all the way up to…Fluttershy, going up her tail, back, and stopping at the head, holding the tickets before her eyes.

She gasped at the sight. "Angel, these are perfect."

"Uh, listen, guys. I haven't decided who to give the extra ticket to.", Twilight explained.

"You haven't?!", the party pony and fashionista gasped, the former in an irritated manner and the latter in an eager manner.

"I just said so a while ago.", pointed out Chronicle.

"Um…excuse me.", called out Fluttershy.

The other girls looked behind themselves and saw her and the rabbit named Angel close by. The latter was back on the ground, holding the tickets. "Twilight, I would just like to ask…I mean, if it would be all right…if you haven't given it to someone else…"

Rarity seemed to have a look of disbelief. "You? You want to go to the Gala?"

"Oh…no." Angel didn't seem to approve and kicked her leg. "I—I mean, yes…or, actually, kind of. You see…"

_Here we go again._, groaned Chronicle, bracing himself for yet another monologue on what his friend wants to do in the Grand Galloping Gala.

"…It's not so much the Grand Galloping Gala, as it is the wondrous private gated garden that surrounds the dance. The flowers are said to be the most beautiful and fragrant in all of Equestria. For the night of the Gala, and that night alone, will they all be in bloom. And that's just the flora! Don't get me started on the fauna. There's loons and toucans and bitterns, oh my! Hummingbirds that can really hum, and buzzards that can really buzz!"

_Buzzards? She want to see those scavengers?_ As Fluttershy spoke, he was soothed by her voice as he began to slowly close his eyes.

"Why, there's bluejays, and redjays and greenjays, pinkjays and pink flamingos!"

_There are all kinds of colors of 'jays' in Equestria? I didn't know that._ At this point, Fluttershy had gathered Angel into her front hooves and was hovering just in front of Twilight.

"Gee, Fluttershy, it sounds…beautiful?", the purple unicorn finally said.

"Wait just a minute!", a voice came. Everyone turned to see Rainbow Dash perched on a roof.

"Rainbow Dash!", Chronicle scolded as he 'awoke' from his stupor. "Were you following us?"

Rainbow landed with the others and replied, "No—I mean, yes—I mean, maybe—look, it doesn't matter! I couldn't risk a goody-four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anybody."

"Wait just another minute!", another voice came. Everyone turned to see Applejack walk up to Twilight.

"Applejack! Were you following us too?", the sole stallion cried out incredulously.

"No, I was followin'…" She pointed at Rainbow. "…this one, to make sure she didn't try any funny business! Still tryin' to take my ticket."

Rainbow floated off ground and gasped, "Your ticket?!"

Pinkie then approached and said, "But Twilight's taking **me**!"

Soon enough, Twilight and Chronicle (Spike just stood 'outside') found themselves on the wrong end of a quintuple verbal fusillade as Fluttershy and Rarity joined in on the argument. As the hapless bookworm huddled under the onslaught, the bodyguard just gave a sigh.

"The Two Ticket Scenario.", he groaned. "I can't believe I had to experience something like this again."

"Again?", asked Twilight.

"With a previous charge of mine, a spoiled sweet Canterlot noble. Usually, the scenario consists of a trio of friends, with one of them obtaining two tickets. As the remaining two begin to nag their friend as to who gets the ticket aside from the owner, the holder would have to choose between the two, straining her friendship between whoever gets left out. This time, the mayhem is multiplied since we got **five** others wanting in on the ticket."

"What should I do?", his charge asked as their friends' argument began to escalate in volume.

"They're your tickets, so I can't help you there."

Eventually, the abuse got so loud neither Chronicle nor Twilight could hear themselves think. Finally, Twilight lost her grip. "QUIET!", she cried out and everyone clammed up except for Pinkie.

"And then I said, 'Oatmeal? Are you craz—'", she continued to rant before cutting herself off when Twilight glared at her. "Oh."

"Girls, there's no use in arguing."

"But, Twili—", Rarity began to walk over and plead but was cut off by Chronicle putting up a hoof to back her off.

"Ehp! This is my decision, and I'm gonna make it on my own. And I certainly can't think straight with all this noise!" Her still-empty gut then voiced its own dissatisfaction. "Not to mention hunger. Now go on! Shoo!" The others began to disperse with much reluctant grumbling, leaving just her, her assistant, and her bodyguard. "And don't worry! I'll figure this out!" She then added to herself. "Somehow." (2)

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - Twilight and Chronicle against a pink background, in the bottom center portion of the screen. The remaining area gets quickly tiled in with squares containing the faces of their friends, who are directing their abuse their way. The show's logo is seen on the lower center.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP

Later…

Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike decided to eat at a restaurant. The building had a thatched-roof, but they—as well as a few other patrons—were eating outside the building around several giant, flat-topped mushroom tables out front, sitting on piles of hay. The signs at the door and walk showed clover blossoms.

While the bookworm slumped over the tabletop and the baby dragon read a menu, the bodyguard was looking over at one of the waiters in the restaurant.

He was a very properly-dressed, off-white earth pony. He had a navy blue mane and tail, a white dinner-jacket lapels and shirt front, a red bow tie, a pencil-thin mustache, and white spats. His eyes were gray-brown and his cutie mark depicted a covered serving dish. If he remembered correctly, his name was Horte Cuisine.

As Chronicle watched him serve Lightning Bolt and another pegasus pony, his attention was caught by his charge's weary sigh as he turned to face her. "Ah, Spike, Chronicle, what am I gonna do?" She proceeded to levitate a flower off the vase standing in the center of the table. All five of my best friends have really good reasons to go to the Gala." One by one, she 'pulled off' the petals. "Applejack…or Rainbow Dash…Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy, Rarity… Oh, who should go with me?"

There was yet another grumble and her face fell. Then, she stuck out her tongue to round up the petals and eat them, earning a curious stare from her bodyguard, who then resumed normal composure an instant after.

"Well, if you ask me—", he began to say before he was cut off by a French-accented voice, catching Twilight by surprise.

"Have you made your decision?", it said. Chronicle turned to see Horte having come up to them.

"I CAN'T DECIDE!", Twilight shouted, earning stares from the other diners.

Spike pointed to the menu and said, "Twilight, he just wants to take your order."

"Oh. I would love a daffodil and daisy sandwich."

"Daffodil and daisy sandwich?", asked Chronicle. "Don't daffodils taste nasty? Aren't they toxic to the point of poisoning? And won't the pollen of daisies cause allergic reactions?"

"No need to worry about that, monsieur.", voiced in Horte. "Our food is perfectly safe to eat as they are specially treated to remove those dangers you have mentioned."

"Okay." Chronicle then 'took' the menu from Spike and started reading it. _I can't believe there are foods containing gelatin here. Aren't ponies vegetarians?_

"Do you have any rubies?", Spike asked Horte, getting a funny look from him. "No? Okay. I'll have the hay fries—extra crispy."

"And I'll have a carrot bun." Horte gave another funny look, this time at Chronicle. "There **is** one in the menu, right?" He just walked away, leaving the three to wait.

"What do you think, Spike?", Twilight then asked.

"I think we have to try another restaurant. I mean, I like grass just fine, but would it hurt anybody to offer some gemstones?"

"I mean, about the Gala and the ticket and who I should take!"

"Oh. You're still on that?"

Twilight leaned angrily over the table, knocking the vase away. "Spike, listen!" She then settled back down. "How do I choose? And when I do choose, will the other four be mad at me? I mean, I could give up my ticket and give away two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies."

"Excuse me?", Chronicle cut in. "If you're not going, I'm not either. The only reason I'd go to the Gala is to serve as your bodyguard."

"All right. But still, that would then leave **two** disappointed ponies. What if I—"

She was cut off with Horte serving their food. "Ah, your food.", he said as he then left right after.

"Oh, thank you. This looks so good.", Twilight said as Spike was already digging in his fries. "I'm sure everything will be much clearer once I eat."

"I'll bet.", said Chronicle as he and his charge 'lifted' their sandwiches. Just as they were about to consume them however, a small stampede past the table got their attention.

"Um, monsieur, madame?", Horte called from inside the front door. "Are you going to eat your food in the rain?"

"It's not raining.", Twilight said.

"Now how did I fail to notice this?", Chronicle said as they realized that it was indeed raining, and a thunderstorm at that. For some reason, a spot of tranquil clear sky kept the rain out of their heads.

Twilight looked up and asked, "What's going on?"

"I have a sneaky suspicion." The two of them then looked up to see Rainbow Dash cheerfully poking her head.

"Hi there, best friend forever I've ever ever had!", she greeted. "Enjoying the sunny weather?"

"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?", Twilight asked suspiciously as Chronicle began to 'procure' a simple blue umbrella and a saddle of the same color from "hammerspace" and 'put' them on himself.

Rainbow tried her best to look innocent, in spite of the glaring evidence otherwise. "What do you mean? I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on—" Neither unicorn was impressed. Spike just ignored the scene. "—so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry so she could dine in peace. That's all."

"Rainbow, you're not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by doing me extra-special favors, are you?"

Chronicle looked up at Rainbow, seeing her head being illuminated by the sun behind her as if she were wearing a halo. This made her all the more suspicious to the stallion. "Me? No, no, no, of course not."

"Uh-huh."

"Seriously, I'd do it for anypony."

"Oh, really?", asked Chronicle as he indicated the other customers bolting for cover from the downpour. By then, he and Spike have finished their food.

Rainbow swallowed hard and managed a nervous little laugh at having been caught out. "Uh…"

Twilight spoke up firmly. "Rainbow, I am not comfortable accepting unwanted favors. So I'd appreciate it if you'd close up that rain cloud right now."

Rainbow groaned as she relented. "Fine!" She then zipped the hole closed, sealing herself off from view.

"That's better.", Twilight said. However, just before she could take a bite, Chronicle 'caught' it with his aura and 'shoved' it straight to her mouth—a second before the rain turned both of their manes into a waterlogged mess.

Spike couldn't help but stifle a laugh as Twilight began to chew and swallow, then seemed to choke in need of a drink, then settled with catching rainwater, then swallowing that. Once she was done, Rarity arrived on the scene, donning a saddle with an ornate umbrella attached to keep herself dry, much like what Chronicle was using to keep the rain out of him. While he could easily put up a barrier of magic to keep out the rain, he considered it a waste of energy.

"Twilight! It's raining.", said Rarity.

His charge deadpanned, "No. Really?"

Rarity then proceeded to yanking her away. "Come with me before you catch a cold!"

With a sigh, Chronicle followed, Spike sheltering himself under the stallion's umbrella.

C—TS—S—RD—R—C—TS—S—RD—R—C—TS—S—RD—R

In Carousel Boutique…

Rarity had taken Twilight there and Chronicle and Spike followed to see the purple unicorn in the ground-floor showroom. Of course, the blue unicorn had 'put away' his umbrella and accompanying saddle back into "hammerspace". As for Twilight, she shook herself dry, then looked over her shoulder, giving an uneasy little laugh as she realized she had thoroughly drenched Rarity, whose mane and tail have gone limp.

"Oops.", she said. "Sorry."

Rarity just forced a smile and said, "Oh, no. It's quite all right." She then slid up to nuzzle Twilight's shoulder. "After all, we are…the best of friends, are we not?" She quickly dried out her coiffure with a simple spell, then took Twilight's forelegs in her front hooves. "And you know what the best of friends do." She then proceeded to back up as Twilight's male companions now stood close by.

"Uh…"

"Makeover!" In a blink, she zipped a privacy screen in, knocking the two boys out of the way. Dust puffed up from behind the screen as they heard the sound of Rarity's high-speed overhauling.

"Oof!…Rarity!…Ow!…", they heard Twilight say. "This really isn't necessary…I mean, thank you, but…oh, that's too tight!" Finally, the screen was whisked away to expose Twilight, now wearing a blue-green saddle trimmed in blue, with yellow tassels, and a blue collar/necklace trimmed with a strand of rainbow-colored beads. She eyed it with great trepidation.

"There! Oh, you're simply darling!", Rarity said.

"Uh…" Twilight gave a smile. "…yeah, it is kinda pretty, isn't it?"

"I kinda have to agree.", commented Chronicle.

As for Spike, he made as if to heave his guts at the sight. Rarity suddenly popped over to them next, jostling the baby dragon so that he briefly shoved his whole hand down his throat.

"And you! Oh, Spike, Chronicle, I have some dandy little outfits for the dashing gents."

Spike tried to make a break for it and Chronicle prepared to flash-step out of reach as Rarity whipped out the screen once again, but they were both too late. Somehow, she managed to grab them both, the stallion physically and the baby dragon via telekinesis. Dust began to fly again as Chronicle was unable to see through the tussle.

"Ow…oh…hey…oh…watch it…whoa!", he managed to hear Spike say.

Once the screen was withdrawn, Chronicle could now see that he and Spike were both decked out in a blue ensemble with a light green cummerbund, both catered for their different body types of course.

_Man, I look like I'd fit right in for Ponyville's next production of Little Lord Fauntleroy._, Chronicle thought as he looked at his outfit. _Assuming they have such an event._ He then looked at Spike to see a curly blond wig covering the baby dragon's head spines as he attempted to cover himself upon seeing what he wore. _I do think they make for a good suit for the Gala, although it could use less frills. …Oh, wait a second…_

"Oh, Chronicle, Spike…", Twilight said as Rarity plunked a broad plumed hat each on the boys' heads.

"Now you just need a hat.", the fashionista finished.

"Bleah! I told you, I don't want any part of this girly Gala gunk.", complained Spike. "See you back at the library." He then bailed out fast enough to leave the new clothing floating to the ground. Rarity forced a laugh, then dismissed him with a wave of her hoof.

"Oh, who needs him anyway?" She then pulled a mirror up, showing the other two unicorns' reflections as they then admired themselves. "This is all about you, and how fabulous you'll look at the Grand Galloping Gala."

Twilight snapped back at this. "Wait. The Grand—"

She was cut off by the designer as she approached an "equinequin" in an identical saddle/collar rig. "And oh, my goodness, what a coincidence. I happen to have an ensemble of my own that matches yours to a T." She then pushed Chronicle aside and threw a hoof around Twilight's shoulders. "We would be the belles of the ball, you and I. Everyone would be clamoring for our attention." Obviously getting carried away, she got Twilight in a headlock. "All eyes would be on us, and then everyone would finally know. The most beautiful, most talented, most sophisticated pony in all of Equestria…is Rarity the unicorn!" After a few long seconds, she let go of Twilight, who had wound up in a rather annoyed half-crouch, and realized that her fantasy went just a bit overboard. She laughed nervously, patting Twilight's head. "And Twilight Sparkle, of course."

As Twilight straightened up, Chronicle—who had removed his clothes and stored them in "hammerspace" during the monologue—'tugged' on Rarity's tail and 'pulled' her away from his charge. "You really think we don't see what's going on?", he asked as Rarity backed up. "You're just buttering Twilight up so that she would give you the extra ticket. Well, it's not gonna work!" He then 'removed' the saddle from Twilight and 'threw' it over Rarity's head.

"You're going to have to wait for my decision just like everyone else!", Twilight finished as her bodyguard 'tossed' the beads right around Rarity's horn as the two of them made their way out the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been trying all day just to get some lunch!"

As if on cue, Applejack poked her head in. "Did somepony say lunch?", she asked.

The famished unicorn was then unceremoniously yanked out the door to land flat on the grass. The thunderstorm earlier had since passed. When she got upright again, her bodyguard joining him, her jaw dropped.

Stopped in front of the unicorns was a cart piled high with all manner of apple treats, even more food than was brought out during the Apple family brunch back during the Summer Sun Celebration.

"You've got to be kidding me!", said Twilight as Applejack started pointing out the items.

"I got apple pie, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple dumplin's, apple crisp, apple crumblers, aaand…" She then held up on her head a slice of dessert on a plate in front of Twilight, whose irises have grown to nearly fill her eye sockets. "…apple brown betty!" There was a few seconds of silence as Chronicle inspected Applejack's cart, doing…something with the items. "Uh, the dessert, not my auntie. What do you say there, best friend?" There was another stomach growl from Twilight. "Is that a yes?"

Twilight's eyebrows lowered resolutely over the purple irises for a tense moment before… "No! No!" Applejack recoiled, the plate falling off her head. "I don't know who I'm giving the ticket to, and all these favors aren't making it any easier to decide. In fact, I'm less sure now than I was this morning!" She then galloped off with a loud, frustrated groan.

"So that's a maybe?", Applejack then asked.

"Ya think?!", retorted Chronicle as he teleported away to catch up with his charge.

C—TS—S—A—R—C—TS—S—A—R—C—TS—S—A—R

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - Twilight Sparkle running away, Chronicle following behind with Spike on his back, and three of their friends in hot pursuit; Rainbow Dash on a cloud, Rarity levitating a fancy saddle, and Applejack pulling her cart of food. All of them are facing right. The show's logo is seen on the upper center.

C—TS—S—A—R—C—TS—S—A—R—C—TS—S—A—R

Early afternoon…

Twilight Sparkle and Chronicle were making their way back to the library, the former letting out another groan. "I never thought being showered with favors would be so aggravating!"

Just before they could reach the door, Chronicle stopped her from opening it. "Hold on.", he said. He motioned her away from the door, walked toward it, then opened it…to see Fluttershy and several other small animals cleaning up the place. The yellow pegasus was vocalizing a familiar jingle as she flitted from shelf to shelf. "Oh, not her too."

"Is everything okay in there?", Twilight asked him.

"Depends on your definition of 'okay'.", he replied. "Fluttershy is in the library with some animal friends."

His charge went in after him, then voiced a disheartened little gasp.

"Oh...well, hello, Twilight.", their pegasus friend greeted. "I hope you don't mind, but we're all doing a little spring cleaning for you.

"It's summer.", pointed out Chronicle. "Only a few weeks since the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Oh…well, better late than never, right?" She then blushed, giving an ingratiating smile. "It was Angel's idea."

The two unicorns turned to see the white bunny, who has donned a chef's hat and was tossing a salad with a happy squeak and wave.

"You're not doing this for the ticket, are you?"

Fluttershy descended to the floor. "Oh, no. I'm doing this because you're my very best friend. Right, Angel?" Angel just gave her a disgusted look in response. "Oh. Yes. We are just doing this for the ticket."

"At least you're being honest.", said Chronicle.

Angel then proffered the salad, Twilight's stomach grumbling in response; her next words came with enough force to blow food and chef backward. "No, no, NO!" She then headed for door, magically opening it (Chronicle hadn't moved from his position at the door). "Well, this was all very nice of you and Angel, but I am not accepting any extra favors until I've made my final decision." She then pointed out the doorway. "So I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Just then, a burst of confetti and streamers suddenly came flying in. "SURPRISE!", came Pinkie and a crowd from outside.

Once more, music came out of nowhere as a cheerful melody began to play from somewhere in a fast tempo.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=nt_sBtOmgYc)

_Now Playing: The Ticket Song_

Party noisemaker horns were blown at Twilight and Chronicle, and the pink goofball reached in to yank the former bodily onto the lawn. Outside, the group repeatedly tossed her upward as Pinkie sang whilst hopping around.

_Twilight is my bestest friend, whoopee, whoopee_

"Pinkie…", Twilight said at the peak of her being tossed.

_The cutest, smartest, all-around best pony, pony_

"Pinkie…"

_I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party_

"Pinkie!"

_She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me_

"PIIINKIIIEEE!"

_End Song_

Abruptly, the music stopped, Pinkie shut up, and all the spectators backed off—leaving Twilight to hit the ground on her back.

"Yes, Twilight?", Pinkie asked innocently as she fluttered her eyelashes.

Twilight sat up and said, "At least the other ponies **tried** to be subtle about the ticket!"

_Uh-oh._

"Wait.", asked one pegasus mare. She looked a bit like Cloud Kicker, but her hair was darker, she had a flower on it, her eyes were a different color, she had a different cutie mark, and Cloud herself was among the crowd. "What ticket? What Gala?"

"Oh, you didn't know?", Pinkie asked as the crowd grew, which Chronicle noticed consisted of no stallions whatsoever (aside from him). "Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!"

"Pinkie!", he scolded, but it was too late; Twilight has just hit panic mode.

"The Grand Galloping Gala?!", cried out the crowd. Then came the various offers and butter-ups.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your mane?", came one offer.

Just then, Spike ran by, pulling Twilight away as Chronicle followed.

"I'll wash your dishes!", one of them had said.

The three stopped short, finding their retreat blocked by Daisy. "Would you like any help with your gardening?", she offered.

They turned around, only for Shoeshine to cut them off, holding up some carrots. "I have a cartload of extra carrots." The crowd soon began to close in, shouting more offers.

Spike climbed on Twilight's back and asked, "What are we gonna do?"

"We're…gonna…RUUUNNN!" At the end of that sentence, she leaped out of the crowd, with him clinging to her tail, and bugged out.

"Couldn't have said it better myself.", said Chronicle as he cast a spell and a large "magic circle" formed at the crowd's feet, binding them in place as they struggled to move. The stallion quickly made his way out of the crowd and after his charge as 'binding' so many ponies is much more taxing than one powerful winged unicorn like Nightmare Moon.

He 'let go' after a few seconds and the ticket-seekers began to give chase. He managed to rejoin Twilight and Spike as they raced past Sugarcube Corner, hiding behind Applejack's cart of goodies, which had been moved from just outside Carousel Boutique and next to Daisy's flower/herb shop for some reason.

After the massed ponies charged by, the three peeked out from behind the cart. They thought they were clear until Bon Bon opened the store's door and saw them. Daisy then somehow popped up from inside the cart, spooking the three into another escape.

"Why does everypony right now seem to possess that unexplainable trait Pinkie Pie possesses?", Chronicle asked himself as they ran. As they fled, he glanced back and saw Golden Harvest fall behind, stumbling and falling by the wayside.

Just then, Chronicle located an alleyway—that had a way out—and they crossed it, tearing down a few useless stuff in the way to impede the mob's progress.

"We can't run from them forever.", Spike said.

"I got a plan.", said Chronicle. "Give me the tickets."

Twilight did so and Chronicle then 'produced' a magic clone—complete with copies of the tickets.

"How're you able to do that?!", asked Twilight.

"Been practicing long enough to be able to manifest copies of small items."

As they exited the alleyway, they turned a corner and Chronicle immediately teleported them elsewhere while his clone kept running, showing off the tickets all the while.

As for the three, they emerged at a clothing store. Quickly, Chronicle went in and snatched some items, leaving enough bits to pay for it all at the counter. The cashier was currently absent as she turned out to be one of the ticket-seekers.

Quickly, he dressed up Twilight in a dress and bonnet, put a bonnet and pacifier on Spike, put him on the baby carriage, then donned a black cloak completely concealing his identity but making him suspicious in a different manner.

Just then, he suddenly 'obtained' information he didn't have before; his clone had been caught and automatically dismissed. A few seconds after they finished putting on the clothes, Chronicle saw the mob headed their way. By instinct, Twilight almost broke into a gallop, but Chronicle stopped her.

"No.", he said. "Try and be inconspicuous or else the purpose of these disguises will be rendered moot. Now just walk normally with the carriage in front of you. Spike, don't move or say a single word."

"You sure about this?", asked Twilight.

"Bodyguarding isn't the only thing I do. I also dabble in non-magic disguises and sneaking around after I realized some of my charges don't want my company. And yet I still had a job to do, so…" He didn't speak further as the mob bypassed them, not suspecting them at all. "Wow. This was actually the first time I tried this."

"This is your first time?!"

Chronicle shut her up by taking out an apple snack he 'stole' from Applejack's cart when she offered to Twilight for the ticket and stuffed it into her mouth. But it was too late; one of the crowd—Golden Harvest, who managed to catch up—caught sight of the trio and re-directed the mob back toward them. "Time to go!" The three began to make tracks, ditching their get-ups as Chronicle decided to store them in "hammerspace".

After Twilight swallowed the snack Chronicle had shoved into her face, she asked, "Was that snack from Applejack's cart?"

"Yes. But don't refuse it. She technically didn't offer that. I just took it from her, then **I** forced it on you. Now shut up while I get us out of here."

He was sure to get a berating from his charge later, but he set the thought aside as he cast a spell on his charge's and his own legs (Spike rode on Twilight's back), increasing their running speed as the mob vanished from sight. As they crossed a bridge over the stream bordering Ponyville, Twilight then stopped and looked at the bridge.

"Let's hide here."

"Under the bridge?", her bodyguard asked. "Great idea." He then cast the water-walking spell on the three of them and they went under the bridge. They then jumped to the underside and clung to it, the spell wearing off quickly as Chronicle didn't concentrate for long since the thundering hooves of the crowd began to break his focus. They heard them cross the bridge and once they were gone, Spike wiped his brow in relief before losing his hold and falling into the water.

Immediately, Chronicle got him out and the three were on the run again. Taking shortcuts, hopping rooftops (immediately abandoning that after some pegasus ponies almost caught them), hiding in various places, taking occasional snacks Chronicle stole from Applejack, and donning various disguises. Among them, the last was most prevalent. Sometimes the three (or at least the two unicorns) swapped disguises, like Twilight wearing the black cloak, or Chronicle "dressing in drag", something he actually wasn't comfortable with while on the run.

Eventually, they made it to a costume shop, where they then disguised themselves as equinequins in a shop window. Chronicle donned a…festive holiday-related hat and matching saddle trimmed with jingle bells. Next to him was Twilight dressed as a clown complete with rainbow-striped wig and rubber nose, and next to **her** was Spike as a bewigged hula dancer.

_They got Christmas here? or is it named differently in Equestria?_, Chronicle was thinking as the ticket-seekers passed by. _And that hula dancer getup Spike has, why is there a coconut bra? It's not like—whoa!_ He was interrupted from his thoughts by his two companions ditching the disguises and exiting the premises. He promptly followed them.

As they continued to run, a hoof poked out of a door, beckoning them inside. Recognizing it to be Mystic Shield, he bypassed his companions and turned to the door to the dojo. Twilight and Spike quickly followed as Mystic closed the door after them.

"Thanks, Mystic Shield.", said Chronicle, then changed his tone. "Unless you're after Twilight's you-know-what to you-know-where."

"Goodness no.", replied Mystic as he waved him off. "I could very much care less about the Gala. Too high-class for my taste. In fact, I pretty much want to stay away from Canterlot if I can."

"Oh, good."

"I can't speak up for the others though."

That was then when Chronicle and his companions noticed the other students Mystic Shield was presumably teaching. Aside from four stallions (Bullseye, Greatstone, Tricky Books, and Chrono Cards), who were Mystic's first students, there were also a couple of mares. And they were the unicorns seen from the mob he, Spike, and Twilight had been running from all day. "Pony feathers!"

Immediately, the three of them quickly exited Mystic's dojo, the unicorn mares following. As for Mystic and the other four stallions, they just stared in confusion.

"I thought he could be trusted!", Twilight said to her charge.

"I'm pretty sure he had no idea these mares were after the tickets!"

They continued running until they ended up finally cornered at a dead end, where the ponies made their inexorable advance, eagerly shouting offers for the ticket, one of them even offering to do their taxes, of all things.

Just then, Twilight's horn flared white as she gritted her teeth to the breaking point. There was a flash of blinding light, and the three of them have disappeared thanks to her teleportation, leaving a crush of extremely confused would-be Gala guests.

C—TS—S—F—PP—MS—C—TS—S—F—PP—MS

Elsewhere, inside a blue box with POLICE STABLE printed on the side…

A certain earth pony was messing around with some buttons in…wherever he was inside. The interior of his place was bigger than what its exterior would indicate. There was some sort of strange control panel in the center filled with all sorts of buttons and had a translucent tube of sorts glowing blue-green. There was also a chair or two, but they didn't seem to be meant for ponies. There were also railings on the short stairway to the center, oddly-shaped columns supporting the ceiling, and strange hexagonal icons surrounding the brass-colored walls.

Currently, the earth pony, a beige stallion with a short drab brown mane and tail and an hourglass cutie mark, was just being returned to Ponyville, holding a metallic something in his mouth for some reason, when something suddenly teleported right inside, something he deemed impossible.

"Blimey!", he said as he saw Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Chronicle appear. As if my instinct, the thing on his mouth shot a couple of beams of differing colors at them. One hit Twilight, two hit Spike, and one narrowly missed Chronicle, who swerved his head to dodge the beam.

"Doctor Whooves!", the unicorn stallion said. "I suspected there was something un-ponylike about you. But I should've known you had something like this."

The earth pony stallion, who was named Doctor Whooves, took at look at Chronicle's cutie mark, then seemed to react in shock at the sight of it. He then sighed in resignation. "I guess you caught me. And I'm pretty sure you want to know what just happened to your companions." The Doctor pointed to Twilight and Spike with he thing on his mouth, who were now both seemingly frozen in place and the latter seemed to be burnt somehow. He then spat it out onto the panel in the center "Normally, the sonic screwdriver is incapable of inflicting injury, and I can't seem to figure out why it burnt a dragon. They've been frozen in time and will not remember what happened seconds before they were hit with what I hit."

"How are you sure about that?"

"When one operates this for quite some time, one knows the effects. Although I have forgotten some of them."

Chronicle gulped in nervousness, then shook off the thought. "Well you better be right for your sake. Anyway, mind telling me what you're doing here in Equestria?"

"Oh, of course. I'm here because there are some sinister forces after me and I'm just laying low here until it blows over."

"You **do** know you're also potentially putting Equestria in danger of those threats, right? Something not even the Princesses might be able to possibly fend off."

"You're absolutely right, but unfortunately the TARDIS doesn't seem to want to go at the moment."

"You mean this thing we're in?"

"Don't you call **her** a thing!", the Doctor suddenly snapped back.

"Sorry."

"Speaking of which, how'd you get in here via teleportation? As far as I know, the TARDIS bars all attempts to teleport into her interior while in transit like right now."

"Seriously, I have no idea how my charge Twilight Sparkle here did it."

"I see. She's rather gifted, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is."

The Doctor then seemed to change the subject. "Hmm…I've been thinking of changing my name. Now that I think of it, 'Doctor Whooves' isn't helping in covering my presence here. Perhaps I should call myself Time Turner."

"Uhh…"

"Oh, sorry. Forgot you were here. Is there anything else either of us needs to know?"

"Nothing much. Except…how to get my friends back to normal." Chronicle indicated his charge and her assistant.

"No need to worry. I'm sure it'll go away once you affect them with a magic spell like a teleport. And also, as I **am** trying to hide—"

"I get it. This conversation never took place. We never met in the TARDIS. Twilight, Spike, and I were never here. I was merely tipped off by my superiors about your presence."

Doctor Whooves nodded. "I believe that's how you do it. …Well, this conversation was rather awkward."

"Yeah."

"Well, once I officially change my name to Time Turner, I'd like it of you call me as such."

"Won't promise that. Might slip my tongue. Will do my best though."

"If they're still frozen even after the teleport, just notify me next time we meet." Just then, a door in the TARDIS opened, revealing Ponyville. "Okay, we're back. Now I think it's safe for you to teleport."

"Where exactly are we? A unicorn needs to know their bearings before teleporting lest they end up inside a wall."

The Doctor said, "Just about a yard from the entrance to the Everfree Forest."

"I see. Thanks."

With that, Chronicle teleported himself, Spike, and Twilight out of the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor to his own devices. (3)

C—TS—S—DW—C—TS—S—DW—C—TS—S—DW—C—TS—S—DW

(Because of teleporting in the TARDIS) A few hours later…

In the Books and Branches Library's reading room, Chronicle emerged in a flash with Spike and Twilight, the latter two both dizzy apparently due to the side-effect of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"Warn me next time you're gonna do that!", Spike said as he then shook himself clean as Twilight came around.

"I didn't even know it was gonna happen!", she replied. As expected, neither she nor Spike remembered anything about the TARDIS or Doctor Whooves. And Chronicle planned on keeping it that way for as long as he could. "Now, quick! Lock the doors!"

Immediately, the two did as told and Twilight did the same, switching off every light, closing every conceivable opening. Once that was all over with, both Twilight and Spike leaned wearily against Chronicle's sides. The stallion remained on the alert however. Just as his charge was about to sigh in relief, he said, "Don't speak too soon."

His warning proved to be true as the lights flicked on once more…and the rest of their friends had gathered at the loft where his and Twilight's beds were. They were gathered, as if waiting expectantly for Twilight's answer. This was the last straw for Chronicle as he then summoned a magical clone right at their faces, just about ready to scold them when Twilight decided to speak up.

I can't decide, I just can't decide!", she screamed. "It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, and giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference because you're all my friends, and I want to make you all happy and I can't! I just can't!" At the end of this, it was apparent that the others have been chastened at her 'confession'.

As Chronicle's copy then looked at her in a huddle on the floor, forelegs wrapped around head, shaking just next to his original, he turned to the rest and said, "Happy now?" He then 'procured' the paddle and slapped all of them before dismissing himself in a flash of magic.

Applejack was the first to walk up to Twilight. Chronicle did nothing to stop her. "Twilight, sugar, I—I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you. And if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won't feel bad, I promise."

"Actually, you are my optimal choice for the ticket.", the sole stallion in the group said. "After all, you were doing this for your family."

Fluttershy was next as she flew down to them. "Me too. I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful."

"Glad you apologized."

"And me too.", Pinkie added as she and Rarity still stood in the loft. "It's no fun upsetting your friends."

"Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did.", said Rarity.

Rainbow meanwhile hovered in midair. "YES! That means the ticket is mine!" She began to laugh and sing, effectively ruining the mood. "I got the ticket, I got the ticket—" She cut herself off and stopped after getting a good look at the others, all of whom were giving her slightly dirty looks. "You know, I haven't perfected my signature moves for the Wonderbolts anyway. I don't need that ticket either."

"We all got so gung-ho about goin' to the Gala that we couldn't see how un-gung-ho we were makin' you.", said Applejack.

Twilight gave a smile as they all then chorused, "We're sorry, Twilight."

"Glad this is over with.", Chronicle sighed.

"Spike, take down a note.", his charge then said as she stood up.

The baby dragon was already on it, whipping out a quill and blank scroll to take her dictation.

"Dear Princess Celestia…", she began as she levitated the three tickets. "I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful." The tickets reached Spike and floated down to the scroll and tucked themselves in. "So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning all three tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT?!", gasped the other five mares.

"If my friends can't all go—" Twilight then turned to them. "—I don't want to go either."

Applejack gasped softly, as Rainbow floated down. "Twilight, you don't have to do that."

"Nope, I've made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now."

As the dragon opened the nearest window and burnt the scroll to get it gone, Fluttershy said, "Now you two won't get to go to the Gala either."

"It's okay, girls. I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me." Everyone gathered around her, laughing gently. So I would rather not go at all."

"And I'm not really interested in the Gala.", put in Chronicle. "The only reason I would go would be to serve as Twilight's bodyguard. And if she isn't going, I don't have a reason to either." He then turned to Spike, and saw that for the fourth time today, he pantomimed shoving a finger down his throat—and for the third time, he started trying to choke back a real heave.

Applejack was irritated at this. "Well, wallop my withers, Spike.", she said as she crossed to him. "Isn't that just like a boy—can't handle the least bit of sentiment."

"I'm right here, and I can handle it pretty well.", retorted the **other** boy in the room. "And I think that's—"

Chronicle was cut off as the fiery belch that finally surfaced had enough kick to throw Spike on his back. Applejack ducked so fast that it shot between her head and her hat, then hung midair.

"Whoa, Nelly!" The smoke then solidified into…

"A letter from the Princess?" gasped Twilight as Spike quickly got up and took the scroll "That was fast."

Spike opened the letter and read, "My faithful student Twilight: Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Six gold tickets then popped out of the parchment. Spike then took these tickets and held them fanned out. "Six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!"

There was a collective gasp from all six mares. "Now we can all go!", Twilight gasped. There were cries, movements, and whatever anyone does when expressing jubilation. Just then, they were cut off with Twilight's growling gut and sheepish little laugh.

"Allow us to treat you to dinner.", Rarity offered.

With that, the ponies exited the library one by one, the tickets floating out of Spike's hand as he waited at the door. The tickets obviously had some magic in them as they floated near their recipients even if they weren't unicorns.

Twilight was the first to exit, followed by Rarity. Next were Rainbow and Pinkie, the former flying a few feet in the air.

"What a great way to apologize!", Rainbow said as she left.

"And to celebrate!", added Pinkie as she followed. "Come on, everyone! The cupcakes are on me!"

Fluttershy was fifth to go, trotting after the others, followed by Applejack who just walked, with Chronicle bringing up the rear. As Spike held back the last ticket, just as he bypassed the farmpony, it was whisked out of his hand.

"How come I don't get a ticket to the Gala?", he asked himself dejectedly.

Chronicle also stopped as Applejack exited the library, noticing. "Hold on a second. I don't have a ticket either. Either this means I have slipped Princess Celestia's mind. Or as Twilight's bodyguard, I don't **need** a ticket to go to the Gala. How could I not have—"

He was cut off by Spike retching again. Another belch procured another scroll from the Princess. He then opened it and read, "Don't think I've forgotten you boys." Two tickets popped up and Chronicle 'took' one of them as Spike's eyes popped as well.

"Apparently, either I still need a ticket to go to the Gala, or it's for in case I decide to go without Twilight." Immediately, just as Chronicle pondered on this, Spike ran from the library laughing but stops short at the sight of Applejack directing a knowing little smile his way, her ticket still floating above her head. Chronicle followed shortly after, saying, "In spite of all your protestations, you genuinely want to go, huh?"

"Huh? I mean, gross!", Spike 'complained'. "I have to go too?"

After getting past Applejack and eying her nervously, he broke into a laughing run and she trotted after him, chuckling softly. Chronicle suddenly remembered something and ran after Spike, quickly catching up to him as he followed the other girls.

"Spike!", he called as he slowed down to a trot.

"Yeah?", asked the baby dragon as he slowed down as well to match his speed.

"Could you lend me a scroll and quill? I need to send something to the Princess."

"What?! Why would you want to send a letter to her?"

"Because all this could've been avoided if she had sent tickets for **all of us** rather than just for three. I mean it's not like she didn't know we were all her friends. I just want to ask her if she knew that and wanted to test Twilight's reaction on a situation where she would have to exclude some of her friends, and thus sent just three. Or if she even sent them at all, given the formal wording of the first letter rather than being directly addressed to her 'faithful student'."

"I'm not sure if she'll approve of someone other than Twilight writing letters to her."

"I just want to have things cleared up. It's been bugging me all day. And this is just the first time."

"You plan to send more letters in future?" The baby dragon didn't seem all too pleased.

"Maybe. I'll stop if she doesn't approve, though."

"Okay. But after dinner. I didn't bring another spare."

"Fine." The two boys spoke no further s Applejack caught up with the rest as they apparently reached their destination.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) The background earth pony Mjölna is best known in _The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000_ (even though she's been around earlier) for her unique cutie mark. Her 'twin sister' is just an addition of mine to allude to the different mark Mjölna has in a different shot.  
(2) I changed the 'position' of the breaks once again, just like in "The Elements of Harmony".  
(4) I apologize if the conversation was horrible. I know next to nothing of _Doctor Who_, but I'm assuming the Doctor is not THE Doctor in canon but some other Time Lord. Or something like that. Hence should you notice any characteristics that aren't synonymous to any of the Doctors, well… Also, there has to be a reason why it's nighttime after Twilight teleported when it was still afternoon before that. I assumed traveling forward in time to be a factor, hence the teleport into the TARDIS.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	9. Chapter 7: Dragonshy

nightelf37: Okay. Now for an adventure!

Pinkie Pie: Yippee!

nightelf37: And this time, we'll have somepony else join the party this chapter.

Pinkie: This is gonna be fun!

nightelf37: By 'party', I don't mean the social gatherings you throw all the time, Pinkie. I'm talking about a group of individuals traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity.

Pinkie: Still fun to me!

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper. I also own Timerity from last last chapter.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 7: Dragonshy**

In Chronicle's dreams…

He was once again inside his dark expanse, thinking of things as always. In addition to his dreams of spars, small talk, or reminiscence, he also sometimes talks with Timerity about their Element of Harmony keeper companions.

Just then, another pony began to appear in front of him. As it began to materialize, he saw it wasn't Timerity.

This time, it was a mare-faced stallion like him, only this time his coat was white, his eyes were blue, his mane was mildly frazzled and colored in navy blue and purple, his tail had the same color and was short like Chronicle's, he had black hooves, and he shared the same orange-circle-with-open-book cutie mark. However, instead of a horn on his head, he had wings on his sides, making him a pegasus.

"We meet again at long last, big brother.", he said, his voice a tone deeper than Chronicle's in spite of being younger than him by a year.

"Wait…Crais?"

"I'm glad you remember even as in my current form. And my alias is Blue Diary."

"I see. I'm going by Chronicle." There was a moment of terse silence. "So, how's your Twilight Sparkle there in the Equestria you're in?"

"Last I've seen her, she's a fugitive after the Ursa Minor incident."

This caught Chronicle off guard. "What?! What about her friends?!"

"She doesn't have any.", Blue calmly replied. This left Chronicle speechless as he dropped his jaw. "And before you ask, she's not the Element of Magic either."

Chronicle gave himself a few seconds to compose himself. "…Okay."

"And none of her friends that you assumed she has are the other Elements either."

"Well, that's reassuring.", said Chronicle sarcastically. "Wait. How do you know who I was assuming?"

"Our sister Tabitha, who goes by Timerity, told me about **your** friends."

"I see. Hold on. Ursa Minor incident? So if the arrival of the Twilight Sparkle was the cause, then is Trixie…"

"Yes." Blue nodded. "The Element of Magic is Trixie Lulamoon."

"Lulamoon, huh?" Chronicle put a hoof to his chin.

"Would you like to know who the other elements are?"

"Enlighten me."

"Very well. The Element of Laughter is Cheerilee…"

"The schoolteacher?"

"I see our Equestrias share the same ponies. The Element of Generosity is Carrot Top…"

"Guess she's not named Golden Harvest there."

"…the Element of Honesty is Raindrops, the Element of Kindness is Ditzy Doo, and the Element of Loyalty is Lyra Heartstrings."

"Lyra Heartstrings? Just which Equestria are you assigned to?"

"I'm assigned to 'Luna Equestria'."

"Let me guess, in there it's Celestia rather than Luna who turns evil?"

"Yes. But it's not by darkness or jealousy, rather by greed and insanity." Blue gave a sigh. "You're lucky where you are, Chronicle. I envy you for that. While Nightmare Moon has already been defeated and redeemed where you're at, Corona the Tyrant Sun on the other hand still runs rampant where I'm at, though weakened."

Chronicle deduced that Corona was the alias of the insane Celestia. "That's rather…"

"Dark?", Blue finished. "Well, 'Luna Equestria' is like that compared to 'Equestria Prime' in more ways than one. Already, during our adventure to find the Elements, we had encountered sirens with the express intent to **eat** us."

"Oww."

"You should be proud you had already got a friend in there." Chronicle recalled the river serpent Steven Magnet at that statement. "Where I'm at is vastly more different than Timerity's is to yours."

"Right. Another thing, are you or were you ever Trixie's bodyguard?"

"I was, but I'm now considering work at the weather management, even though Rainbow Dash can be a pain in the ass. Here, she's even lazier than yours. Still, I got Raindrops and Cloud Kicker to help me out. I also spend time doing odd jobs and I still keep in touch with the Elements."

"But where do you stay?"

"Ditzy Doo's kind enough to give me a place to crash in for nights and siestas. Her daughter Dinky's a nice filly and is lucky to have a loving mother."

"Siestas, huh?" Siestas were basically nap times at noon. "Most likely because of Corona?"

"Uh-huh. And I take karate lessons alongside Raindrops. I keep away from Lyra's house though; she can get real loud with BonBon at nights. Like I said, 'Luna Equestria' is vastly more different than 'Equestria Prime'. And I think we could discuss more of my world another time."

"Yeah. Well, it was nice talking with you, Blue Diary."

"Likewise, Chronicle." (1)

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

Later that day…

Chronicle was at the address Graphite gave him back during the day that fracas with the tickets happened. As usual, the house had a thatch-roof. He was at the front door, talking with the earth pony in front of him. Thankfully, he managed to get Mjölna instead of her twin sister Tasty Snack.

A day after the episode with the tickets, he had come over to Mjölna for her blacksmithing services and requested her to create a shield out of the river serpent's scale. Today, she was finished and he was here to receive the shield.

"Here you go, Chronicle.", said Mjölna as she offered the finished product. "That'll be 480 bits."

"Wow. That's a bit much." Chronicle 'took' the shield and had a good look at it. It was shaped like the shield in Mystic Shield's cutie mark, but was more plain-looking. As expected, its color was similar to that of the scale it was made from. He 'stored' this shield in "hammerspace", and 'procured' a pouch of bits from there.

"Well, making armor ain't cheap."

"True. I don't currently that amount with me right now. Maybe I can pay in—"

"Portions? As in you pay a smaller amount now, then pay likewise for the next few days or so?", guessed Mjölna.

"Yeah. That."

"Sure thing. I'll tell Graphite since I might be too busy and because you might end up paying Tasty Snack instead. She takes advantage of every mistake that comes her way."

"So I'll be paying you through Graphite?"

"Basically, yes."

"Okay. I'll just pay the first portion now." Chronicle 'passed' his pouch to Mjölna. "Well, I gotta go soon. See ya, Mjölna."

"Bye, Chronicle."

C—M—C—M—C—M—C—M—C—M—C—M

A few minutes after…

Chronicle managed to make it to the park, where he greeted the ponies who passed by and enjoyed the fine weather.

"Hello, Derpy Hooves, Parasol. Hello, Bon Bon, Carrot Top. Hello, Lemon Hearts, Sea Swirl, Wind Whistler. Hello, Tornado Bolt, Apple Bumpkin. Hello, Medley, Dizzy Twister, Cloud Kicker. Hello, Apple Cobbler, Lyra. Hello, Twinkle, Minuette. Hello, Shoeshine, Cherry Berry. Hello, Daisy, Goldengrape. Hello, little fillies. Hello, Berry Punch. Hello, Amethyst Star, Pink Lady. …Okay, what a strange name." He then looked up, ready to greet any overhead pegasi, and saw something he wasn't about to give a nice "hello" to; a plume of thick black smoke issuing from a distant mountain peak. And it seemed to be en route to Ponyville. "Oh dear."

Just before he could speak up, he noticed another voice. "Help! Help! Please? Help?", it said. He knew that voice anywhere, although he **did** have to strain to listen to it. "There's…there's a horrible cloud of smoke! It's headed this way and—"

He looked down and saw that it was Fluttershy—and that nopony else seemed to have heard her. _She really needs to work on her volume…_ He then called out, "Fluttershy."

The meek pegasus turned to face him and cried out "Oh, Chronicle! I'm so glad you heard me."

"Your voice allures me every time, though I had to strain to understand you, actually. You really should raise your voice a bit more."

"I'll try." Just then, a ball headed their way—too fast for Chronicle to 'catch'—and they both ducked. Before it can hit the ground, Rainbow Dash flashed in and started bouncing it up off her forehead and rump.

"Don't be such a scaredy pony.", she told the two as Pinkie Pie arrives to watch.. "It's just me, future Equestria ball-bouncing record holder." She then continued to count. "Two hundred forty-six, two hundred forty-seven…"

"This calls for a celebration!", said Pinkie as she zipped away.

"Girls.", Chronicle spoke up. "This is no time for celebration. This is a time for—" He was rudely cut off by Pinkie, who popped up in front of him, facing away from the two who know of the smoke, which was already making its way to the park.

"Ooh! I'm gonna need balloons!" She then hopped away. "One for everypony in Ponyville!"

Fluttershy and Chronicle followed her, the former saying, "There's…there's smoke, and…and where there's smoke, there's fire, and—"

They were cut off by Pinkie suddenly stopping—and Chronicle got a face full of her behind, and Fluttershy got a face full of **his**. Both were briefly knocked silly, but the former recovered quickly as Pinkie began to count off the ponies in the park.

"Let's see. That's one…" She pointed at a hovering Medley, who turned and noticed. "Two." She then pointed at Daisy, who turned and noticed as well. "Three." Cloud Kicker, who also turned and looked. "Four." Cherry Berry, who didn't notice, but Heartstrings and Shoeshine turned to look at Pinkie as they sat on a bench. "Five." Heartstrings, who was sitting like a human being would.

_What?_, Chronicle mentally gasped at this non-ponylike behavior.

"Six." Shoeshine, who sat next to Lyra and was laid out across the bench in a proper equine manner.

She turned to look at Rainbow, who was still bouncing her ball. "…two hundred fifty-four, two hundred fifty-five…no, wait…" She was interrupted by Pinkie as she rushed in to count her as well, causing the ball to miss Rainbow's head and land under her wing.

"…seven…" Pinkie earned an exasperated sigh from Rainbow.

"Pinkie Pie, now I have to start over!"

"We're all gonna have to start over.", snarked Chronicle as Rainbow left. "In a new village, 'cause ours is gonna be—"

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, wait up!", Pinkie interrupted.

"Dammit, why isn't anypony listening to me…", he growled.

"Oh, please, this is an emergency.", pleaded Fluttershy. "I need everypony to—"

"LISTEN UP!", another voice came. Everypony turned to a bridge over the stream running through the park and saw Twilight Sparkle, with Spike on her back.

"Twilight!", Chronicle called.

"Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria!" There was a shocked reaction from the crowd.

"That's what Fluttershy and I've been trying to tell—" he began to say as they came over, but he was cut off again.

"But don't worry. I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that it is not coming from a fire."

"Oh, thank goodness." Fluttershy sighed in relief.

"It's coming from a dragon!"

The mild-mannered pegasus sucked in a gasp that would inflate a small blimp as her eyes popped. "A….d-d-d-dragon?"

"Uh-oh.", groaned Chronicle.

C—TS—RD—F—PP—C—TS—RD—F—PP—C—TS—RD—F—PP

Later…

Twilight, Chronicle, Fluttershy, and the rest of the keepers of the Elements of Harmony were gathered inside the Books and Branches Library. Outside, the sky has darkened under the spreading smoke.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon-swirled is a full-grown dragon doin' here in Equestria?", Applejack asked Twilight, who was studying a book from a stack, with rolled-up documents resting nearby.

The purple unicorn closed the book with her magic and set it aside. "Sleeping.", she answered.

"Huh?" Nopony could believe their ears as Twilight 'packed' a book into her saddlebags standing on the floor.

"According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."

"He should really see a doctor.", commented Pinkie. "That doesn't sound healthy at all."

"Well, at least he's not snoring fire.", said Rarity. "What are we meant to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do.", Rainbow said as she hovered a few feet up. "Give him the boot! Take that!" She kicked the center table's horse-head bust, which was balanced by Chronicle before it can topple. "And that!" She rushed at it, but he levitated it upward and as he set it back on the pedestal, the cyan pegasus was sprawled upside down against a wall.

"We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else.", Twilight said as Rainbow got up. "Princess Celestia has given us this mission, and we must not fail." The speedster stood to attention and saluted. "If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next one hundred years."

Fluttershy recoiled in horror with a gasp.

"That is **not** good at all.", said Chronicle.

Rarity gave a humph and turned to Pinkie. "Talk about getting your beauty sleep."

"All right, everypony." Twilight's saddlebags closed. "I need you to gather supplies quickly." The bags then rose off the floor and settled on her back. "We've got a long journey ahead of us." The others gathered around her. "Let's meet back here in less than an hour."

Rainbow looped in the air, throwing hooves around Pinkie's and Rarity's necks. "Okay, girls, you heard her! The fate of Equestria is in our hooves! Do we have what it takes?"

Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity reared up and voice their own affirmative responses. As they hustled out the door, Rainbow joins them—but Fluttershy hung back. "Um, actually…"

"Twilight, I'll go have a talk with Mystic Shield.", Chronicle said as he made his way out the door as well. "Maybe we could ask him and his students to join us."

"That's a good idea.", said the bookworm as she continued to work. "His skills can prove useful."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

Later, in Mystic Shield's dojo…

"And remember that you should gauge how much focus you need between defense and offense."

Mystic Shield was teaching his (so far) four students the two most basic spells he thinks any unicorn should ever know; the barrier spell (either dome-shape or screen-shape), and the magic shot spell.

Tricky Books and Chrono Cards seem to be doing well in both, but Bullseye seemed to be more focused on offense and Greatstone on defense.

"It may sound difficult to perform at least two spells at once, but there is a simple secret to double-casting. Now, all you need to do is—" He was interrupted when Chronicle burst into the dojo. "Chronicle, you're late.", he said sternly. "How can you possibly teach alongside me if you don't remember the schedule?"

"Sorry, Mys—I mean, Master Shield, but we got a crisis on our hooves."

"Is it about that smoke coming from the mountain?"

"Yes. And I was hoping if you could spare a student or two to accompany us. We're headed to the mountain to convince the dragon there to leave."

"Dragon? Sounds dangerous, dude.", said Bullseye.

"I'm not too certain.", said Chrono.

"I'd rather not.", apologized Tricky.

"I cannot say as to whether or not I should go.", said Greatstone.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot spare any of these four to join you in this…quest.", Mystic said with disappointment.

"…I see.", Chronicle replied. "Well, it was worth a try." He then turned to leave and was about to walk out when Mystic suddenly walked up right next to him.

"Hold on, there. You did not ask **me** if I could come with you."

Chronicle seemed to be surprised. "You're coming?"

"Why not? I could use an adventure."

"But what about—"

"Hey, this dragon's being a threat to Equestria, right? If there's something I could do and I didn't do it and you fail, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

"I was talking about the students. What if they want to go?"

"You heard Tricky. He's not going."

"Neither am I.", piped in Chrono.

"Nor I.", added Greatstone.

"I changed my mind, I'm not going.", said Bullseye.

"Guess you have it, then.", said Mystic. "Since my classes are currently suspended, you are free to call me Mystic."

"Welcome to the party, Mystic Shield. Get yourself ready, prepare supplies, and meet us in the library in less than an hour."

"Got it." He then walked back inside his dojo, bypassing his students. "Class dismissed."

C–MS–G–TB–B–CC—C–MS–G–TB–B–CC

**[screen mode]**

{Wipe to Rainbow's cloud house. She flies to one of the rainbow ponds at its edge, from which a waterfall trickles toward the ground, and daubs a stripe of the material under each narrowed eye. Throwing a defiant growl and fierce grin toward the camera, she is framed in a pink letterbox shot, with her shadow superimposing itself several times behind her. Freeze frame.}

{Quick pan to a fullscreen shot of Sweet Apple Acres. The four local members of the Apple family—Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith—are gathered around a pair of open saddlebags on the ground. As the camera zooms in, Bloom drops in a bottle of apple juice, Granny pulls one bag closed with her teeth, and Macintosh loads them onto Applejack's back with some effort. Once the blonde pony straightens up under the weight, she rears up and leaps sideways with a yell. Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is blue.}

{Quick pan to Chronicle's training range behind the library, where Chronicle is at the right side of the screen, and the training dummy is at the left. But instead of engaging the dummy, Chronicle is surveying a row of items leaning at the wall of the library. Among the items are—as the camera pans from right to left— a piece of broken fence, a broken equinequin leg, a shattered bottle, a frying pan, a trashcan lid, a medium-sized cloud, an old heavy tome, a hammer, a shovel, a paddle, a xiphos (a shortsword of nineteen inches), and a sock full of bits. The blue stallion puts a hoof to his chin.}

Chronicle: Hmm…What to bring…

{He suddenly lights up as he then 'selects' the pan and paddle. He considers the xiphos, but decides against it with a shake of his head. After he then 'stores' them in hammerspace, he faces the camera, and rears up with a devious grin. Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is blackish-gray. Quick pan to a fullscreen shot of Sugarcube Corner, from which Pinkie emerges wearing her own saddlebags, a pair of sunglasses, and a big goofy grin. One bag pops open, scattering un-inflated balloons everywhere; she giggles for a second, then catches herself.}

Pinkie: Oh, I mean… (striking tough rear-legged pose) …grrrr!

{Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is green. Quick pan to the Carousel Boutique, then zoom in quickly and cut to Rarity inside. She has put on a camouflage Army helmet, with a few leaves and branches attached to improve the disguise, and carries her saddlebags in her teeth. After catching her reflection in a mirror, she drops the bags and zips back to it, disgusted.}

Rarity: Ewwww!

{Off she goes, returning a moment later with new headwear: a broad-brimmed hat, still done in camo colors but with a long pink plume instead of the branches.}

Rarity: Much better. Onward!

{Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is yellow. Quick pan to Fluttershy's cottage, zooming in on the front door whose top half is open. She nudges the bottom half open and steps out, wearing a football helmet, a baseball catcher's chest protector, an inner tube around her midsection, and "floaties" on all four legs. The top half swings shut, scaring a little whimper out of her. Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is red.}

{Quick pan to a fullscreen shot of Mystic's dojo, then zoom in quickly and cut to the purple stallion inside as he looks with contempt at something to the right. Camera then zips to his saddlebags, which have not yet been filled. Cut back to Mystic, who then turns to the left. Camera zips to a first-aid kit, which is then coated with Mystic's magical aura as it is then levitated into the saddlebags. He then magically closes the clasps, walks to the bags, levitates them onto his back, then gives a simple smile. Letterbox freeze frame, as before, but the letterbox is white.} (2)

{Cut to a letterbox screen full of black smoke, with images of the seven freeze-frames dropping in from right to left to tile in the view.}

Applejack: Let's go! (All but Fluttershy and Mystic zip away, the latter walking off.)  
Fluttershy: Um…let's not?

{She crouches down and goes into a whimpering shiver as the seven strips slide away up and down.}

**[end screen mode]**

C—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

After the hour…

Twilight Sparkle was now walking down the line to review the 'troops'. Chronicle and Mystic Shield were lined up as well as the former took the time to survey his friends. Everypony but him and the pegasi had saddlebags; Chronicle didn't need them given his "hammerspace". Rainbow Dash seemed to have what looked like war stripes (colored in her namesake, no less) under her eyes. Pinkie wore a pair of red sunglasses. Rarity wore a broad-brimmed hat colored in camo colors and with a long pink plume. Mystic Shield only had his usual ascot. As for Fluttershy, she wore a football helmet, a baseball catcher's chest protector, an inner tube around her midsection, and "floaties" on all four legs.

"All right, girls and boys, listen up.", Twilight said as she walked.

_Good, she did not overlook Mystic Shield and me._, Chronicle mused as he stood in attention once more. _I could still be very well mistaken for a girl sometimes._

"I'm mapping out the fastest route, but we've all got to keep a good pace if we expect to make it up the mountain by nightfall."

Fluttershy fell out of line and gasped with a shudder, "Mountain?"

Twilight pointed to the peak. "The dragon is in that cave at the very top."

"Looks pretty cold up there.", noted Applejack.

"You bet it is!", agreed Rainbow. "The higher you go, the chillier it gets.

"Good thing I brought my scarf.", Rarity said as she brought one up from her saddlebag. It was striped in two shades of pink.

"Ooh, pretty!", Pinkie said as Rarity settled it around her neck.

Rainbow laughed with sarcasm. "Oh, yeah. That'll keep you nice and cozy."

While Mystic seemed to survey the party in silence, Chronicle noticed Fluttershy looking visibly unsettled. A glance up at the dizzying, fume-choked summit prompted one hard swallow from her. Only he took notice as his charge levitated a map from her bag and studied it.

As Fluttershy decided to make her way towards Twilight, Chronicle followed as the pegasus said, "Um…excuse me, Twilight? I know you're busy, but—"

Twilight was not paying attention. "Uh-huh. Well, we could go this way."

"—but if I could just have a second—"

"Uh-huh. No, we want to avoid that."

"So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville."

"Uh-huh."

Fluttershy seemed to brighten up. "Oh! Good. I'll stay here and—"

Chronicle cut in. "Twilight, I have an apology to make."

"Uh-huh."

"I spilt coffee on your favorite book."

"Uh-huh." Only two seconds after that did what he said sink in. "WHAT?!" She turned to her bodyguard with a surprised look.

"Just kidding." Chronicle gave a smile. "Spike can vouch for that." There were a stifle of giggles from Pinkie and Rainbow while Applejack just rolled her eyes. As for Rarity, she was conversing with Mystic for some reason.

"Okay." She then noticed Fluttershy leaving. "Where is she going?"

"She asked that she stay in Ponyville and you gave her consent."

"I did?!"

"Yes. You should really pay attention to what others are trying to say so you don't say something you're gonna regret later." Immediately, his charge made her way to the pegasus before she could leave. Chronicle regretted what he said after that; he was hoping to have her gone by then and they'd proceed without her.

"Wait!" Fluttershy stopped. "You have to come. Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy."

"I don't think I—", Fluttershy said before being cut off again.

"Oh, and don't worry about your little friends in the meadow.", Twilight assured her. "Spike's got it covered while you're gone."

"You can count on me.", said the baby dragon as he was accompanied with a few of them, two on his arms, even.

"I believe I should ask for some of my students to assist him.", Mystic put in as he broke off from his conversation with Rarity. A second after he said that, Angel popped up on Spike's head and gave it a good thumping with one leg, scaring all the other critters away.

Spike ran after them, yelling, "Hey! Hey! Wait!"

"Let me talk to them.", Chronicle told him as he created a magic clone next to himself, who then trotted over to Mystic. "Just tell him where they are and he'll inform them."

As Mystic told Chronicle's copy just that, Twilight rolled up the map and stowed it.

"I don't really think he's up to the task.", Fluttershy said as Twilight walked off. "Maybe…but…but…" She stopped with a tiny little whimper; Rainbow seemed to notice and took Twilight aside.

"Are you sure you want Fluttershy to come along?", the cyan pegasus asked as Chronicle's copy ran off. "I mean, that pony's afraid of her own shadow. She's just gonna slow us down."

"I'll have to agree with Rainbow here.", Chronicle voiced his opinion.

"Oh, she's just a little nervous.", Twilight waved them off. "Once we get going, I'm sure she'll be fine."

A yelp from the scaredy pony drew their attention. Rainbow's words were exactly on point as Fluttershy dived into a bush to get away from her shadow and peeked out.

"You were saying?", Chronicle snarked.

As for the rest, they were ready to go. Rarity had put her scarf away, and Pinkie was blowing up a balloon.

"All right, girls and boys!", Twilight called. The balloon slipped out of Pinkie's mouth and veered around as it deflated, finally landing on her head. "Move out!" And that was what she, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity did—straight toward Fluttershy, catching her in their small-scale stampede. As she was carried screaming toward the mountain, Rainbow and the stallions quickly followed.

"Do your adventures start out like this?", Mystic asked Chronicle.

"This is just our second. The first one was the one involving Nightmare Moon."

"I see." There was a short pause. "Say, why didn't we take Spike with us?"

"Someone had to take care of Fluttershy's animals while she's gone with us."

"They could've left it to me or my students had you asked. And if we're asking the dragon to go on its way, wouldn't Spike make for a good go-between?"

"I think there are four reasons. One, he's younger than us. Two, Twilight's rather protective of him. Three, we don't know if getting him to talk to the dragon would make things easier or worse. And four, Twilight told me that Spike is pony-raised, whatever that means. That may probably affect dragon-to-dragon negotiations."

"Oh."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - From the right, the stampede of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie run to the left, Fluttershy in tow. Just as they disappear to the left side of the screen, Rainbow Dash flies after them, followed by Chronicle and Mystic Shield, both running.

The show's logo is seen on the center, larger than usual.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Two-thirds of an hour later…

The party reached the bottom of the mountain. Along the way, Chronicle found some of their 'equipment' to be impractical. He stored the following in hammerspace; Rarity's hat (after arguing that it might get lost in the wind, though Applejack wasn't willing to let go of her stetson) Pinkie's sunglasses, and most of Fluttershy's gear, leaving the chest protector (she even surrendered the helmet, which he didn't want her to ditch, yet couldn't convince her otherwise).

As they reached the mountain's grassy foot slopes, the entire place trembled as they heard a low, guttural noise. Smoke also boiled out as Rainbow hovered overhead and Fluttershy dove behind Applejack with a panicked gasp.

Chronicle imagined, _Sounds like the world's largest Evinrude outboard motor, scaled up by a factor of several thousand, and in desperate need of a tune-up._

"Whoa! What was that?", Rainbow gasped.

"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snores.", Twilight explained.

Fluttershy peeked up. "It's…it's so…high."

Rainbow leaned in. "Well, it is a mountain!" She then turned to face upward. "I'm gonna fly up there and check it out." She tried to do so on the end of this line, but Applejack's (apparently) favorite grab-the-tail-in-the-teeth move stopped her.

"Hold on now.", the farmpony said as she then let go. "I think we should all go up together."

"I concur.", agreed Mystic. "Safety in numbers and all."

Rainbow sulked at this. "Oh, all right."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

After a minute…

Rainbow was glumly winging her way up a slope as the others muscled ahead on leg-power. Applejack was in the lead, followed by Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle (who was studying her map before rolling it up), with the two stallions bringing up the rear. However, one of them was missing…

"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than a dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests.", Rarity said. "Ooh! If I play my cards right, I might be able to convince him to part with a few!"

She and Pinkie stopped as the latter said with a scratchy voice. "Welcome to my cave, Rarity! Care for a diamond?"

The pink joker's jape irked Rarity for a moment until she growled, prompting a round of laughter from all but Twilight and Chronicle.

"Girls!" They all fell silent, even Mystic, who decided to clam up knowing he did not have to be called as well by name to get the message. "This is no laughing matter!" She then continued on past the rest. "Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do you think the dragon will be like?" Getting no response, she stopped to look around, as do the other five land-bound travelers. "Fluttershy?"

Rainbow looked down and so did Chronicle. "Hey!" They saw Fluttershy peeking out behind a bush at the mountain's foot. "What are you waiting for? An invitation?"

"Ooh!", Pinkie said as she ducked away. "I think I have one in my bag!" She instantly came up with one in her teeth, releasing a burst of confetti, streamers, balloons, and noise that scared the daylights out of the pegasus and did little for Rarity's mood, not to mention get an eye-roll from Chronicle and a raised eyebrow from Mystic.

"It…it's so…so…steep.", Fluttershy said.

"Well, it **is** a cliff!", Rainbow pointed out. "You could just…oh, I don't know…fly up here?"

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it!", Pinkie said as she waved a hoof. "Flap those wings!"

"Oh…okay." With her eyes squeezed shut, she started flapping and was soon at eye level with the rest of the group. She then committed a variation on the classic fear-of-heights mistake by looking up instead of down, just in time for another of the dragon's rumbling snores. Both wings then snapped tight against her body out of sheer terror, and all four hooves flailed against nothing before she began to drop back into the bushes like a yellow brick.

As if on instinct, Chronicle's horn glowed in an attempt to 'catch' her and Mystic did the same. Alone, neither would've been able to lift her, but together they succeeded. Rainbow groaned in disgust, covering her eyes. Whilst hovering in the two stallions' magical auras, Fluttershy strained hopelessly to unfurl her wings, while Twilight and Applejack watched from up the hill.

Twilight groaned as well. "We don't have time for this!"

Just then, the two stallions 'grip' on Fluttershy began to falter. "Man, holding a pony is much harder than I thought.", complained Chronicle.

"Likewise.", agreed Mystic as they gently 'dropped' her on the bushes.

Meanwhile, Applejack pulled out the map with her teeth. "What are you doing?", Twilight asked her.

"Isn't it obvious?", Chronicle asked as he and Mystic rubbed their heads.

"I'll need this if I'm gonna take her around the mountain another way.", Applejack replied.

There was a loud groan from Rainbow. "Around the mountain?" Applejack bolted downhill and slid down the slope. "That's gonna take them forever!"

Just after the earth pony reached the pegasus, another snore from the leviathan shook the mountain and caused the latter to go over on her back in a stiff-legged, wide-eyed faint. A goat's bleat was heard as she toppled. Applejack addressed the others, "Don't worry, Twi. We'll be there lickety-split."

The unicorn's concern deepened as she turned her gaze to the foul black stream advancing steadily over the hills.

"Allow me to accompany you, Applejack.", offered Mystic as he slid down after the earth pony.

"That's mighty kind of you, Mystic Shield."

"You're welcome."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

A few minutes later…

Leaving Fluttershy in the capable hooves of Applejack and Mystic, the remainder of the party stopped at a plateau where they would wait for them. However, a great deal of time had passed and they still weren't there yet. To pass the time, aside from tic-tac-toe, which Rarity and Pinkie played, Chronicle also provided a few board games for himself and Rainbow to play and a deck of cards (as well as instruction manual of card games) for Twilight.

While his charge played a game of Klondike, then Scorpion, then Calculation, then Freecell, then Canfield, then Golf, and every other patience game known to pony, the two blue ponies played what he assumed was a pegasus-and-cloud version of Battleship. This kind of game wasn't his forte and Rainbow had at least five wins for every three of Chronicle's. They had then played Nine Mare's Morris, in which Chronicle got more wins than Rainbow.

Chronicle had wanted to refrain from physical activities like sparring as he and Twilight didn't want anypony's stamina to be wasted. Just then, as he moved a piece, his thoughts were cut off by Pinkie (whose nose was dirtied from drawing on the ground) cheering for herself.

"Woo-hoo!", she said. "I win again!"

Rarity gave a disgusted sigh. "That's thirty-five games in a row." She then gave a smile "Best of seventy-one?"

"You know, you two could've played a board game or borrowed a deck.", a magical clone of Chronicle said as he kept a lookout. "I would've been more than willing to lend a few."

"What compelled you to bring these?", Rainbow asked the real Chronicle as she moved one of her pieces into another hole on the board. "Not that I'm not thankful, but board games and card games aren't exactly supplies."

"Well, I learned it from one past charge of mine. He told me that boredom can be just as dangerous a foe as anything. While it at first conflicted with my diligence as a bodyguard, he taught me the magical clone spell so I could be in two places at once." He then paused for a second. "That and Pinkie Pie inspired the idea. Why **she** herself didn't bring the games is something I still don't understand."

"I hear someone.", the clone said as he turned to see Applejack and Mystic coming up around a bend, both panting. The earth pony had tied Fluttershy's tail into a loop and slung it around her forehead to drag the still-frozen pegasus up the trail. At least that was the plan until Mystic also assisted in the carry by creating a panel of energy below her, which would normally serve as a shield.

"We…made…it.", Mystic said as he and Applejack collapsed.

Rainbow hovered upside down for some reason and told Twilight, "Told you it was gonna take them forever."

"It's only been twenty minutes.", said Chronicle's clone. (3)

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Five minutes after…

The party had packed up and were on their way once more. Pinkie was well ahead of Fluttershy, who still either cannot or would not move under her own power and was being pushed by Applejack and pulled by Chronicle, the latter having borrowed the former's lasso and dismissed his copy. Farther ahead of these four, Rarity and Mystic were slightly behind Twilight, while Rainbow soared over them all.

The three unicorns in the lead and Pinkie checked the map, which Twilight 'rolled up' and 'put away' after a moment. The party then stopped short, finding themselves at the edge of a dropoff. Rainbow landed, galloped up, and easily leaped the gap with a little help from her wings. Twilight was next, then Rarity, then Mystic, then Applejack, then Pinkie, but Fluttershy could only swallow hard and stare across at the others. Chronicle had stayed behind as well, trying to convince the pegasus to cross.

"Your turn, Fluttershy.", called Twilight.

"But…it's so…" She turned her head away. "…wide."

"Really?", Chronicle snarked. "I've leaped wider gaps."

Twilight was getting impatient. "Come on, Fluttershy! We should be much farther along by now."

Applejack tried to encourage her. "You could just leap on over."

Fluttershy peeked past the edge. "I…" A fresh snore and billow of smoke cut her off. She yanked her head back and curled into a shivering little ball. "I don't know."

Both Twilight and Applejack shook their heads disappointingly, but Pinkie was her usual cheerful self.

"There's nothing to be afraid of!", she said as she jumped to the edge. "It's just a hop, skip, and a jump!" And with one nimble bound, she is back on Fluttershy's side.

And also, Chronicle could hear music. The prominent instrument was a soft-shoe piano and the tune was in C major.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=P3VmzZU4XuA)

_Now Playing: Hop Skip and Jump song_

"See?"

_It's not very far, just move your little rump_  
_You can make it if you try with a hop, skip, and a jump_

Pinkie added a shake of her hindquarters to make the point before leaping across.

Suddenly, the music paused. "We don't have time for this!", Twilight told her.

"We don't?", asked Mystic.

The music then resumed, steadily increasing tempo as Pinkie jumped back and forth.

_A hop, skip, and a jump, just move your little rump_  
_A hop, skip, and a jump, a hop, skip, and a jump _  
_A hop, skip, and a jump, a hop, skip, and a jump _  
_A hop, skip and a jump _

Fluttershy's eyes flicked back and forth to follow the performance, which ended with Pinkie back on the far side, and she finally smiled and stood up as the music stopped.

_End Song_

"Okay…here I go.", she said as she did the motions slowly. "A hop…"

"That's it.", said Applejack.

"You got it.", said Twilight.

"Almost there.", said Rarity.

"I got your back.", assured Chronicle.

"Skip…" Fluttershy skipped over the edge, eyes closed.

"Just don't look down!", Twilight then said.

"You shouldn't have said that.", gasped Mystic with a look of horror as Fluttershy opened her eyes and made exactly that mistake.

Her vision blurred out of sheer panic as she began to take the 'big dive'. There was barely time for her to get out one tiny moan before she suddenly stopped dead.

"Why didn't anypony just tell her the gap was too narrow to not be able to jump?", asked Chronicle.

Indeed, Fluttershy had one pair of splayed hooves on each edge of the gap—which was in fact barely more than one pony wide. While Twilight managed the best smile she can at the weak humor of the situation, Rainbow clapped a hoof to her face with a groan and flew over to push Fluttershy across. As Chronicle then flash-stepped across, Pinkie, Mystic, and Rarity assisted with a little pulling action, which ended with a thud and both pegasi lying in a heap before everypony else save for the blue stallion.

"I guess I forgot to jump.", Fluttershy finally said.

Chronicle could only smack himself in the face with a hoof. "Should've carried her across or made a bridge."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

As the party continued up the trail, the two stallions can't help but notice that Twilight seemed to have made an error in her path-making.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?", Mystic said as he looked around. There seemed to be plenty of hiding places.

"I think so."

"Now that we're here, I remember being in this mountain before. This part of the trail's a perfect spot for bandits to ambush us." (4)

"B-b-b-bandits?!", stuttered Fluttershy.

"But what would bandits be doing on a mountain with a sleeping dragon anyway?", Applejack wondered.

"Hideout?", guessed Mystic.

"I told you they knew we were here.", a voice came, making the party stop as none of them had spoken thoe words.

"Shush.", another voice was heard. "They're just suspicious is all. They haven't confirmed our presence yet."

"Shut up, both of you.", a third voice said.

"With your less-than-whispers I'm sure they know we're here now." A fourth voice.

"That's right, bozos!", Rainbow called out as she entered a fighting stance. "Now come out where we can see you!"

As if on cue, four figures jumped from behind a boulder, but they slammed into a panel barrier Mystic conjured. Everypony got a good look at these four would-be attackers as they slid off the barrier. They were two pegasi and two earth ponies, all wearing black garments covering their bodies and concealing their identities. Well, their mane, coats, eyes, and gender (male) were visible to varying degrees, but with their flanks covered (hence their cutie marks not visible), it would be difficult to identify them.

The first earth pony bandit was a dark green stallion with goldenrod hair and blue eyes and the second one was a white mare with cream-colored hair and brown eyes. The first pegasus bandit was a forest green colt with brown hair and eyes and the second one was a crimson mare with black hair, green-yellow eyes, and a larger build than the rest.

_All right._, Chronicle mentally whooped. He checked his companions and saw that Rainbow and Applejack were preparing to fight as well. Mystic Shield had a bored look as Fluttershy hid behind him. Twilight and Rarity didn't seem to know what to do, though they seemed to be ready to defend themselves. As for Pinkie, she just stood there passively.

"We don't have anything worth taking, you know.", Mystic spoke up as he dismissed the barrier. The two action-oriented non unicorns got into position beside Mystic and Chronicle stepped in with them. The other four got behind them.

"Wha—why are you saying this?!", asked the red pegasus.

"To dissuade you perhaps. Really, a group of four attacking a party of eight is not very wise. Especially as we are not merchants and more than half of us are capable of defending ourselves." As if to demonstrate, all the unicorns save for Rarity flared up their horns with magic. "We're here to send that dragon off. Now step aside."

There was silence for a few moments, then the bandits made their decision; they charged, quickly taking out knives from their garments and holding the handles with their teeth. Rainbow and Applejack charged as well, colliding with a bandit matching their race. The young pegasus bandit made his way to Mystic, but met with a barrier conjured by him. The female earth pony bandit made her way to Chronicle, who—instead of conjuring a barrier—'took out' his new shield and 'conked' her on the head with it.

The bandit wasn't about to go down easily however as she rolled to evade the next blow, then tackled him by the side. Chronicle shook off the attack, then 'whacked' her again on the head with the shield, this time 'swinging' it around like a bludgeon and giving her little time to recover. Suddenly, the male earth pony bandit was sent colliding to his side, making Chronicle drop his shield and sending him over the edge. However, he quickly teleported back to safety, emerging right next to a cowering Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, Mystic was trying to 'shoot' down the dodgy young pegasus bandit while keeping his barrier up. Just then, Rainbow Dash was sent flying into the barrier with such force that the barrier cracked. The older pegasus bandit soon followed, slamming into Rainbow and smashing the barrier completely as they slammed to Mystic's side.

They rolled right into the mountainside, Chronicle could see the two earth pony bandits get tied up by a lasso from Applejack. However, to the farmpony's surprise, they were still moving effectively. With the mare on top of him, the stallion began to run straight for her, and delivered a solid buck, which Applejack dodged. Just as he was about to turn and try again, a magic shot—a stray from Mystic—hit his partner tied to his back, almost making them stumble. However, the mare bandit was quickly on her feet so that her partner was now the one upside down.

Just as that was happening, Mystic managed to get off of the two pegasus mares off of him as they continued their clash, slamming into and circling one another right above him. As for the young pegasus bandit, he was about to jump for a wide-open Rarity when he was pounced from behind and crashed to the ground. He looked up to see Pinkie Pie on top of him.

"What's a colt like you with such mean company?", she asked him.

"You think we like doing this?", replied the colt as he then flipped himself off of the pink earth pony, surprisingly getting her off of his back, then made his way to Rarity again, only for his face to meet a pair of her white hooves. This buck knocked him unconscious.

"Poor child.", the white unicorn sighed. "Forced to live this kind of life."

Chronicle, after getting Fluttershy to Twilight's side so she would not be endangered by the bandits, made his way to the tied up earth pony pair as they continued to attack Applejack, who was holding her own rather well. He delivered one well-placed shot at the mare on top as the farmpony delivered a buck on the stallion below. This coordinated attack made them fall down to their sides, disabling them from getting up.

"Now that was a strange duo.", the blue unicorn commented.

As for the older pegasus bandit, after seeing her teammates routed, as she dodged a charge from Rainbow, she decided to bail out and was flying away from the mountain. Just before the cyan pegasus could pursue her—

"Rainbow!", Twilight called out. The cyan pegasus stopped to see the remaining three bandits rounded up and the rest of the party safe and sound.

"But she's getting away!"

"Our mission is to send off the dragon in this mountain, not chase down bandits."

"But what about these?", Applejack then asked as she finished tying up the young pegasus bandit with the other two.

"We'll take care of them later.", Chronicle said. "We'll leave them here for now, then come back for them after we complete our mission."

"We're gonna leave these three all alone?", Pinkie asked. "With nothing to eat?"

"I said we'd be coming back later, didn't I? As for leaving somepony behind to watch over them, I think that even if they manage to escape, I'm sure what we just did to them will dissuade any attempts to try and rob us again."

"Chronicle's right.", agreed Mystic.

"Not really a good decision, and during any other day we would probably take them in, but our mission is for Equestria's sake." Chronicle then turned to Twilight. "However, the decision falls to you. What do you suggest?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she wondered what to do. Of course, they had wasted too much time from the attack, so she had to make a choice quickly…

In the end, the bandits were left behind, but Pinkie decided to leave a cake for them. Why she carried one in her saddlebags was anypony's guess.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Later…

The party were now at yet another section of the trail leading up the craggy mountain.

"Let's keep it down.", Twilight said softly. "According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rockslide."

This was very unsettling news for the others, who stopped in their tracks—or above them, in Rainbow's case.

"An…an ava…ava…", Fluttershy began.

"Shhh!", Mystic told her.

They moved ahead, taking care to put their hooves down as lightly as possible. Rainbow brushed through some leafy branches as she flew along, causing a couple of leaves to drop loose and zigzag slowly toward the ground. One of them made the barest contact with Fluttershy's rump, but it was more than enough to set her off.

"AVALAN—"

Applejack silenced her with a hoof over her mouth, and all glanced nervously around as the echo of her cry died away. When it had nearly faded out, everypony sighed in relief—and then the terrain began to shake and rumble. A few pebbles clattered down from above, replaced by larger rock fragments in very short order.

"AVALANCHE!", all the mares shouted.

"Horse apples!", cursed the stallions.

Pandemonium ensued, with Twilight sprinting out from beneath a falling boulder, Rarity doing a serpentine through other slabs, and Applejack leaping across their tops only to hit a freshly landed one face first. In midair, Rainbow used a few of her tricks to stay ahead of the collapse.

As Pinkie flailed about, miraculously evading every rock, Mystic was casting barriers to stop the rocks while Chronicle was charging up shuriken-shaped shots. Unlike his usual ones, he charged these so that they would be larger than usual. He then launched them to slice any oncoming boulders into smaller pieces.

"Oh, no! Help!", he heard his charge call as she looked behind herself.

He saw a tumbling rock headed for Twilight's direction, but he was too far to be of any assistance. Luckily, Applejack wasn't as she dived to plow her out of the way. Everything afterward was covered in a huge cloud of dust and nearly everypony was coughing the last of it out of their lungs.

Mystic was spared from this as he had created a barrier around his head. As it was, when it comes to shields, a regular one allows nothing to go through it, including air. For Mystic, he can be select which solids, gases, liquids, and energies (including magic) go through his barriers. For this particular instance, he keeps out only the dust particles and lets through fresh air (as well as the rest of his body not in the barrier).

Once it cleared, it could be seen that the avalanche had left a broad mass of rock and earth across the trail, almost completely blocking it.

"Oh, my!", gasped Applejack as the coughing stopped. "Everypony okay?"

"Thanks to you, I am.", Twilight answered.

"You should teach me how to do that sometime.", Chronicle remarked to Mystic.

"Sure."

From a pile of some collapsed dirt, Fluttershy poked her head out. Chronicle then turned to see that Pinkie was bouncing happily in place next to a very filthy and discomfited Rarity. "Ugh.", the fashionista complained as she shook herself clean, transferring the dirt to Pinkie.

"Woo-hoo!", Pinkie cheered. "Let's do it again!"

Rarity gave a disgusted sigh. "This is why a girl always packs extra accessories." She whipped her scarf out of her saddlebags and put it on. She then eyed her gear with concern. "Oh, please tell me I brought the tiara that goes with this."

Rainbow hovered before her and said, "Uh, think we got bigger problems than making sure our hair bows match our horseshoes!"

"Rainbow Dash is right.", agreed Mystic as they saw that the landslide on the trail that was created from the avalanche has left only a narrow path open along the edge.

Fluttershy let off an almost inaudible sigh as Pinkie cleaned herself up again. "Sorry."

Applejack forced a smile. "Aw, no big whoop, sugar cube."

"Yeah!", Twilight agreed. "We'll just have to…" Reality then set in as her face fell and she sighed resignedly. "…climb over."

And that's what everypony did most unwillingly. Twilight was the first to make it over to the other side, her bodyguard next, who was only slightly tired. Rainbow was next, who merely had to fly.

Way behind, Fluttershy was struggling to keep herself upright on the loose earth. One misstep sent her sliding down into an exhausted Mystic, who was on the verge of slipping anyway. They then slammed into Rarity, who in turn knocked over Applejack. A cloud of dust was formed once they crashed as a pile at the bottom. Rainbow grabbed one of Rarity's hooves and started to pull her free.

"My apologies.", Rarity said.

"Not your fault.", Rainbow bitterly replied, her eyes aimed at Fluttershy. The hapless pegasus got out a choked little whimper as the ace flyer passed, giving her a very hairy eyeball.

"I'm to blame as well.", said Mystic. "I was on the verge of slipping too. Fluttershy just bumped into me immediately after."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

A few minutes after…

After crossing a stone arch, the party was now just short of a ledge on which the mouth of a cave could be seen. Twilight had the map open and floating in front of her, but rolled it up and stowed it after a moment.

"Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?", Rainbow asked.

"Yeah.", agreed Chronicle. "I still say it would've been a better idea if she just stayed at Ponyville. She's been nothing but the load for the majority of this quest."

"We're about to find out.", Twilight answered them as everypony stopped; they had reached the mouth of the cave, where smoke was pouring out. "and jWe're here."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- To the left is the cave where the dragon sleeps. On the right is the party of eight. From right to left are a backing-away Fluttershy, Rarity with her scarf with a mid-air-from-a-hop Pinkie Pie above her, Applejack, Mystic Shield and Chronicle standing side by side, and Twilight Sparkle with an eager-to-charge Rainbow Dash above her.

The show's logo is seen on the top, larger than usual.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Now that everypony was at their destination, Twilight began to formulate a plan in her head, then voiced it out after a minute, keeping quiet as she paced so as not to wake up the dragon. "Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke."

"Mmm-hmm." Rainbow complied as she went into a crouch and took off straight up into the haze.

"Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you'll create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little hairy in there."

Pinkie zipped away, leaving Rarity to gape after her as she came up with a rubber chicken and swung it back and forth in her teeth, holding it by the head like a fox raiding a hen-house. The spectacle left the two unicorn mares at a total loss for words.

"Applejack, you're ready with the apples in case he decides to attack."

The farmpony had two apples in her mouth as she said that. Applejack flipped them backwards overhead, then delivered two one-legged bucks that propelled them straight toward a nearby tree. They splattered against the trunk on impact as she threw a fierce smile.

"When worse comes to worst, Mystic Shield and Chronicle are to create barriers to protect all of us as we retreat and try to formulate a new plan." Both stallions nodded in agreement. "But it shouldn't come to that, because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up. And between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go. Is everypony ready?"

Six out of seven indicated that they were, the last being scared out of her wits and crouched almost low enough to be a throw rug. Chronicle noticed this and was about to voice this out when he was cut off. "Okay, then. We're going in!"

She slowly entered the cave, her bodyguard quickly following.

"Uhh…Twilight?", he said. "I think there's a problem with with your plan."

However, she wasn't listening as she then said, "So, what is the best way to wake up a sleeping dragon without upsetting him?" She stopped and looked around. "Fluttershy?"

"Told you there's a problem."

As it was, the were the only ones in the cave at the moment as they then started back out. Twilight was obviously fed up with this. "Oh, come on!"

Fluttershy had gone beyond a terrified crouch to literally burying her head in the sand—or dirt, as the case may be. Chronicle smacked himself in the face with his hoof. _Like an ostrich. But do they even exist here? If they are, are they sapient like us?_ He was shaken off his thoughts as his charge began to grab Fluttershy's wing with her teeth and pulled her out.

"Come on! We have to do this!" She proceeded to head-butt the reluctant pegasus from behind. "Now!"

Chronicle went behind his charge to try and pull her away. "There's a big flaw in your plan, Twilight!" That was when Rainbow got into the act, bumping him from behind to drive him and Twilight into Fluttershy again, who continued to hold her position as her front hooves were dug in.

"Every…second longer that dragon…" Rarity joined in the push. "…sleeps is another…" Then Applejack. "…acre of Equestria that is covered in…smoke!"

Pinkie, the only one—aside from Mystic—missing from this tableau, did her pony-cannonball act and slammed into Applejack's back. Mystic did a "facehoof" at this spectacle as the other five mares got off of the recalcitrant pegasus, allowing the stallion sandwiched between them all to recover.

"I…I…I can't go in the cave.", Fluttershy finally replied, making her friends keel over with disgusted groans.

"Oh, great. She's scared of caves now, too.", Rainbow complained.

"I'm not scared of caves. I'm scared of—" There was a soft mumble in place of the last word.

"What's that, sugarcube?", asked Applejack.

"I'm scared of—" Another mumble.

"What?", Twilight asked.

"I think I know.", Chronicle groaned.

Fluttershy cried out hastily in full volume. I'm scared of dragons!"

"I suspected this…"

The one in question sounded off again, letting off a fresh belch of smoke that filled the screen. Chronicle could hear Fluttershy's cry as everypony, even Mystic, had a brief coughing fit. Fluttershy had also taken cover behind Applejack.

"But, Fluttershy, you have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals.", pleaded Twilight.

"Yes, because they're not dragons.", Fluttershy answered.

"Not all animals are the same, you know.", Chronicle supported.

"Oh, come on! We've seen you walk right up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing."

"Yes, because he wasn't a dragon."

"Specific fears like that are all too real.", put in Mystic. "They're called phobias and I'll admit I have such things."

"Spike is a dragon.", Pinkie pointed out. "You're not scared of him."

"…Seriously?", Chronicle snarked. "Spike's just a baby!"

"Yes, he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-pony-in-one-bite, totally all-grown-up dragon."

There came another rumble and blast of smoke and Fluttershy had folded herself so flat that she could win any limbo contest known to man or pony and was shuddering mightily in front of Twilight, who asked, "But—if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here?"

"I was afraid to." Rainbow groaned, putting a hoof to her face as Applejack nudged Fluttershy up.

"All of us are scared of that dragon."

"I'm not!"

"Neither am I.", added Chronicle, then muttered, "But it's my life I'm scared for…"

"**Almost** all of us are scared of that dragon. But we've got a job to do. So get in there with Twilight and show her what you're made of."

Fluttershy looked at the others, the girls looking expectantly and the boys looking worried. "I…I… I just…can't.", she finally answered as she then turned away and started down the trail.

"Oh, Fluttershy…", said Twilight.

"She can't do this.", Chronicle said as he then created a magical clone to accompany their departing friend. "Do you really expect her to get over her phobia as simple as that, Twilight? And about your problem in the plan, it hinged entirely on her, and she was obviously unwilling even before we started, and you just passed it off as quick-to-get-over nervousness. What kind of planning was that, Twilight?!"

His charge could give no answer to that but, "I guess I still need to learn more about friendship, huh?"

Chronicle nodded at that. "Well, you got a backup plan? Because if you don't, Equestria is screwed."

"Screwed?"

"It's my way of saying 'in imminent danger'."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Later…

Once again, Twilight Sparkle ventured into the cave, alone this time, passing by something very large, scaly, and red, curled around a stalactite along the way. Presumably, it was part of the dragon's gigantic body.

"I'm going in!", she said with resolution. "He probably just doesn't realize what he's doing…right?"

Just at the edge, the remainder of the party poked their heads around the edge to voice encouragement, then ducked away again as Twilight began to negotiate.

"Quick question, Mystic Shield.", Pinkie said. "What's a phobia?"

"A phobia is an irrational or obsessive fear or anxiety, usually of or about something particular. The difference between a phobia and a legitimate fear is that phobias are irrational and you can't get over it easily."

"Oh." Meanwhile, they heard Twilight talking to the dragon.

"We all possess one, whether we know it or not. Mine is canines."

"You're afraid of canines, Mystic?", Applejack asked.

"Yup. Be they regular dog or Diamond Dog, grown up or puppy, I can't stand their barks."

"Then I guess you shouldn't go to Sweet Apple Acres, then."

"Why's that?"

"Well, my family owns a dog and she helps out in the farm."

"I see."

"I'm pretty sure I don't have any of those 'phobias' you're taking about.", Rainbow said proudly.

"Really?", Chronicle snarked. "I remember you being scared of those creepy faces in those trees during our first trip to the Everfree Forest."

The cyan pegasus had no answer to that as they all decided to peek in again, with Pinkie waving enthusiastically. The dragon seemed to have narrowed his eyes in anger. As the rest of the party began to leave their hiding spot and gather near the cave mouth. As the rest looked on and wondered if Twilight was gonna succeed, Chronicle noticed his magical clone and Fluttershy return. (6)

"Hmm?", he said as he turned to greet them. "Why're you back, Fluttershy?"

"I… I…"

"She realized that there were those bandits back in the trail.", his magical clone answered for her. "And she couldn't fly down as her wings were still locked up. Not to mention the landslide from last avalanche."

"I see."

Just then, there came a cloud of smoke from inside the cave. Twilight promptly emerged from it coughing. Another blow then washed over them, but Mystic was prepared with a barrier to keep out the smoke until it dispersed.

"Thanks, Mystic Shield.", Pinkie said as the purple stallion dismissed the barrier.

"Pleasure."

"So much for persuading him.", groaned Rainbow.

"Now what?", asked Applejack.

That was when Rarity trotted up and cleared her throat. "Obviously this situation just calls for a little pony charm. Allow me, girls."

And in she went. As she did, Twilight turned to Mystic. "Say, Mystic Shield. That barrier spell of yours is interesting." She paused as some of the others "You kept out the smoke while still letting fresh air come in. How do you do that?"

Mystic gave a curt smile. "Well, I can teach you, but my lessons don't come for free. There's a reason why I set up a dojo after all."

"Well, she can still try learning it by seeing you do it, then practice and work it out on her own.", Chronicle said.

"True, but can she really?" Mystic then made a stern face as he pointed a hoof at his co-teacher. "And might I remind you to not reveal my secrets to anyone who is not a student of my dojo."

"Don't worry. I'll uphold our oath."

"You know, my lesson plan is still a little small." Mystic then turned to Twilight. "I could use some more spells to teach and your bodyguard has told me that magic is your special talent."

"I'd be happy to.", the unicorn mare cheered as she got upright for a second to clap her hooves.

Just then, there came a growl, followed by a scream. And they saw Rarity run out, collide into Chronicle's magical clone, dissipating it, and taking cover in a rock outside.

"Let's talk about this later when we get back.", Mystic told Twilight after a few seconds.

"Okay."

After a while, Rarity propped her forelegs on the rock and lay her head on it, looking very displeased at her failure. "I was this close to getting that diamond.", she complained.

"You mean 'getting rid of that dragon'?", corrected Mystic.

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"Allow me.", Chronicle said as he then stepped into the cave.

"What do you plan on doing?", asked Twilight.

"What I do best."

He did not speak another word as he stepped further in, passing by a few traces of gold coins and jewelry. Apparently, Rarity had been trying to take some treasure. Perhaps it was a good idea to leave Spike behind after all.

He then stopped to face the dragon up close and personal. From his distance, he could see that it was a massive humdinger. It had red scales, pink head spines and ridges over its yellow-orange eyes, bat-wing ears, a pale yellow underbelly, and a gigantic beak-like snout. It looked rather ticked off—most likely from Rarity's attempt—as it stared down to him with a hostile look.

"It's an honor to meet you.", he told the dragon, then almost regretted it. Of all the introductions he could make, he wondered if this one was the most appropriate. The dragon just growled in response as it kept its pile of treasure close to itself. "I know you're no dumb beast and I'm sure we can settle this like civilized creatures." There was a moment of silence as the dragon just looked down at the stallion. "The name's Chronicle. Do you mind if you give yours?"

The dragon paused for a moment before uttering one word in a deep, reverberating voice. "Basil."

"Well then, Basil. There are certain…individuals who reside in the area around where you are currently sleeping in. And unfortunately, they don't approve of the smoke you're letting out while you're doing that." Basil said nothing at this. "My unicorn friend—not the white one who was obviously after your precious hoard—was requesting you to look for another place to sleep, that is all."

Basil groaned as he turned over in his bed of bits, jewels, and gold items.

"However, since you obviously can't be kindly persuaded, I'm forced to resort to a _less_ diplomatic alternative." Chronicle paused a moment for a bit of effect. "I'm gonna have to challenge you for this cave."

Basil's spines bristled upon hearing this as the blue unicorn 'prepared' his "magic horn blade". The red dragon growled as he prepared to send off this miniscule threat.

**C**—**TS**—A—RD—**R**—F—PP—MS—**C**—**TS**—A—RD—**R**—F—PP—MS

A few minutes later…

Chronicle left the cave, miraculously not-singed and teetering dizzily as he walked with completely straight legs. He managed to reach his charge before falling to the ground in front of her, his eyes spinning.

"Chronicle!", she cried out. "Are you okay?"

"And remember, kids.", he said in a delirious state. "A fire-breathing weasel is better pet than a leech. Good night, Mr. President." _I guess that fight against Nightmare Moon really got into my head. And for some reason, my crushing defeat against Gilda didn't snap me out of it._ He then passed out. (7)

"…Okay, I think he's out.", Mystic finally said as he approached Chronicle. "Luckily, I packed something to get him back on his feet in case that barrier plan is needed." Just as he reached into his saddlebag, a party favor sounded off, but it didn't startle him.

"What in tarnation?", Applejack swore.

As it turns out, Pinkie was now wearing an outfit consisting of the following: a bunch of balloons tied to her tail, swim fins on all four hooves, a gift box enclosing her entire body and upper legs and tied with a polka-dotted ribbon, more balloons tucked in behind an inner tube on her head, the red sunglasses Chronicle had put away, and the noisemaker. Applejack and Rarity stared in total disbelief and were soon joined by Rainbow.

"Darling, you look ridiculous!", Rarity said as Mystic 'took out' a vial of blue liquid, 'popped open' the cork, and let its fumes enter Chronicle's nostrils.

"Exactly!", Pinkie replied as she waddled into the cave the same way Chronicle did, but more smoothly. "Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side." Once she was inside with the dragon, she let out a "Hi!"

A swift pummeling was heard from within, accompanied by the sound of deflating balloons. This sound, as well as the remedying fumes from Mystic's vial got Chronicle back to his feet as he saw Pinkie emerges a moment later—her getup trashed and with only one surviving balloon on her tail.

"Apparently he doesn't like laughing—or sharing.", she said.

"All right, that's it!", Rainbow cried out. "We've tried persuasion, charm, challenging, whatever it is Pinkie Pie does…" There came a sad little blow on the party favor "…it's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in!" Just before she could flash into the cave, Chronicle jumped after her and grabbed her by the tail with his mouth. However, he wasn't strong at this as Applejack was as he began to get dragged along the ground.

"Rainbow! No!", Twilight cried out as Pinkie ditched the remains of her costume.

"I stood no chance.", her charge warned. "What makes you think you'll fare better?"

He received no answer as he lost his grip and the headstrong charger reached the dragon in a heartbeat and stared it down.

"Get…OUT!", the pegasus demanded as she did a powerful mid-air buck at Basil's beaked snout. His first reaction was to sneeze, and his second was to get good and angry. Rainbow was unnerved at this. "Heh…sorry." Basil's third reaction was to let go with a roar that threw her all the way out of the cave, where she knocked into the four mares like bowling pins, scattering their saddlebags. The stallions however had seen her coming, predicted her trajectory, and dodged accordingly.

Immediately after, as their friends got themselves vertical, Chronicle immediately took the lead. "Everypony to us!" In spite of their panic, they did as he said as he and Mystic then conjured a dome barrier just as Basil emerged from the cave, who let out an infuriated bellow, sending smoke spewing over the party. The barrier managed to hold. Basil then proceeded to slam a fist into it, which resulted in a crack.

"We should get moving.", Mystic advised the mares, who were all clutching at each other, frozen in place.

Before they could do that, a swing of Basil's tail smashed through the barrier and into the seven ponies, sending them all into a rock outcropping—where Fluttershy was currently hiding. While Chronicle was dueling Basil for the cave, after hearing yet another rumble, Fluttershy had backed off to a large rock further away from the cave mouth. As her seven companions lay dazed against the rock, it cracked and fell apart, exposing the cowardly pegasus.

She then looked up over the rubble, her jaw falling open once she saw the state everypony else was. As Chronicle partially recovered and looked up to her somewhat dizzily, Fluttershy's attention shifted between the colossal dragon and the jumble of ponies. Her blue-green eyes wavered indecisively and closed, only to open again as her brows drew down in steely determination.

"How dare you?", she finally said, in a tone nopony ever attributed to her having, as Basil stared back at her. "**How dare you?!**"

She then proceeded to fly up to his level, landing on the snout and trotting up to stare it eye to eye as she continued. "Listen here, mister! Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully!" As he and the others recovered from Basil's blow, Chronicle could see that her words have cowed the beast dramatically. "You may have huge teeth and sharp scales and snore smoke and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, **you do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!** You got that?"

There was a long pause, after which Basil cowered away from Fluttershy with a little whimper.

"Well?"

There was another long pause…before Basil spoke back, "But that rainbow one kicked me." Rainbow nodded and smiled hugely, and Mystic glared at her in response.

Now Fluttershy returned to her usual sweet tone of voice, but still with a bit of steel in it. "And I am very sorry about that." Rainbow aimed a puzzled look at the others, then made a sheepish grin at Mystic when she saw him glaring at her. "But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures."

"But I—"

Fluttershy sternly cut him off as she straightened up and put her front hooves to her flanks in an akimbo position. "Don't you 'but I' me, mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself?" There was a moment of silence. "I said, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Basil fought to keep his composure and lost, bursting into tears. Below, as the rest recovered and stood upright, Rarity was worrying about the rain's effect on her mane, while Pinkie donned an umbrella hat and was grinning her head off.

As for Chronicle, he still lay where he was, looking in awe at Fluttershy's talk-down with the dragon, his eyes starry and his grin wide. He felt…in awe. Like something bearing him down was lifted from his back. Like he was being lifted slowly into the sky. Like…well, he didn't know exactly what love (probably the "puppy" sort) was supposed to feel like, but if anything it would probably be like this.

"There, there. No need to cry.", Fluttershy comforted Basil and his tears stopped. "You're not a bad dragon." She then descending to where the rest of the party stood as they gathered around her. "You just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things. You just need to find a new place to sleep. That's all."

There were cheers and congratulations from the other mares and Mystic.

"You did it!", Twilight cheered as Basil went into his cave. "I knew you could do it!" A breath of fire was heard, then they saw him take his leave of the peak, flapping his great wings.

Once he was out of sight, Mystic said, "What an interesting adventure."

The mares then went to their scattered saddlebags and got themselves packed for their return trip. Although Rarity did take a peek inside the cave, only to see Basil's hoard mysteriously gone, much to her disappointment.

"All right.", Twilight said. "Let's go home." The others nodded as they prepared to do so. Then they noticed that Chronicle still lay where he was, still in his 'trance'. As they approached him, they saw his eyes were on one particular pony. Twilight then went up to him and waved her hoof at his face. This was enough to make him snap out of his trance.

"Wh-wha?", he asked as he shook his head vigorously, then quickly snapped to reality as he quickly got onto his feet. "Oh right. Let's get back to Ponyvillle and report our success."

And that's what they did. Along the way, they saw that the bandits they encountered earlier were gone. And the cake left behind was consumed, leaving only a few crumbs and frosting. There were general sighs from everypony as they continued down the trail. Luckily for Chronicle, nopony questioned why he was looking starry-eyed at Fluttershy while she talked the dragon down. At least not yet.

C—TS—A—RD—R—**F**—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—**F**—PP—MS

Two hours before sunset…

Miraculously, it was still daytime by the time the party returned to Ponyville and several pegasi were already hard at work dissipating the sheet of black vapor to leave behind a normal sky. The party was also praised for their efforts and Mystic Shield soon parted ways with Chronicle and the keepers of the Elements of Harmony. Everypony else also went their separate ways to tend to their homes. After all, who knows what effects the smoke had made on them other than a dark sky?

As Twilight and her bodyguard entered the library, they could hear Spike yell, "I said come back here!"

"Looks like Spike's been having problems.", Chronicle told his charge. "Were you really certain he could've watched over Fluttershy's animals?"

He wasn't given an answer as they made it to the second floor, where they saw Spike walking across the bedroom loft, holding Angel at arm's length by the hind leg as the bunny tried to deck him.

"How does Fluttershy put up with you furry little things?!", he complained to himself.

"Spike?", Twilight called, catching his attention. "Take a letter."

He was only too pleased to do so, dropping Angel and pulling out a quill and scroll. "With pleasure!"

"Dear Princess Celestia…", she dictated. "I am happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and that it was my good friend Fluttershy who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome even your greatest fears. Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Once the letter was done, they heard Applejack call from outside. They could also hear a ball bouncing.

"Twilight! Chronicle!", she called. "You gotta come see this!" The two unicorns made their way to a window with the hanging lantern, opening it and stepping to the railing. Rainbow was at it again, bounding the ball with her head, just like in the park before the dragon's smoke became a problem. "She's just five away from a new pony record!"

Surrounding her were the rest of her friends, though he couldn't see Pinkie.

"Three hundred forty-seven, three hundred forty-eight…" Just then, a grating roar threw her off. The ball ricocheted away and she and her mane stood bolt upright. "DRAGON!", Rainbow yelled as she went down, eyes wide open and all four hooves pointing stiffly upward. As before, the sound of a bleating goat was heard, though Chronicle could see no goats in the area as he and his friends had a good laugh as she got up.

Rainbow was still shaken as she said, "Why are you laughing? That awful dragon is back!"

"No, he's not.", Chronicle said as he saw the culprit. "It's just Pinkie Pie."

Sure enough, she came over, voicing the "roar". "Pinkie Pie, you scared me!" Her eyes then popped upon realizing what she just said. "I mean…uh…you…broke my concentration."

"Oh sure.", Chronicle's reply was filled with sarcasm as Pinkie trotted off.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash.", Fluttershy assured as she flew down to Rainbow from above. "Not everypony can be as brave as me."

Down came a leaf from the nearest branch, which Rainbow blew aside so that it touched down on Fluttershy's rump…prompting her to keel over as before. There was another round of laughter, with Twilight and Chronicle shaking their heads before the former smiled and joined in.

_I'm gonna have to work on that._, Chronicle though as he smiled as well.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Notes:  
(1) Like Timerity, Blue Diary won't make a regular appearance either; just be around for Chronicle's thoughts. As well as a little more expansive info about the Story Crew. Also, as a reference to the Lunaverse in FIMFiction . net.  
(2) I added white and black when I realized the letterbox colors were reminiscent of the Power Rangers (pink, blue, green, yellow, red).  
(3) Why did Chronicle say 20 minutes? You see, an average tic-tac-toe game takes about ten to twenty seconds. Calculating that, multiplying the number of games (35), factoring in the time Rarity and Pinkie Pie move to another spot in between games, and considering the time they waited before playing and the time they took to reach their destination, I assumed it was this long, not "forever" as Rainbow Dash said.  
(4) The bandit scene is original, and is meant to be an excuse for a battle scene. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good reason to put bandits for plenty of reasons, like why would they steal from a traveling party that outnumbers them and is not a convoy. Or what will happen to them after they're beaten.  
(5) Well, Fluttershy did leave after sharing to her friends her fear of dragons. There has to be a reason why she came back. And it turns out the bandit scene I put made for a semi-viable reason.  
(6) The words Chronicle said whilst delirious I got from this comic.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	10. Chapter 21: Over a Barrel

Pinkie Pie: Aren't we going a bit too far in this?

nightelf37: Did you forget what I said back in Chapter 6?

Pinkie: Oh, right.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity, Blue Diary, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper. Happy Nightmare Night!

Pinkie: But we aren't even in Season 2 yet!

nightelf37: It's Halloween where I'm from, so there.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 21: Over a Barrel**

On one fine sunset…

A train rumbled along a stretch of railroad tracks running through a sun-baked desert. For some reason, it was being pulled along by a team of four earth pony stallions, all wearing striped engineer's caps and red bandanas around their necks. This sort of…fuel source puzzled Chronicle as he walked down the hallways spanning the many cars in the train.

He was making his way to the one where he and the rest of his friends were resting in, which was the sleeping car closest to the caboose. By his friends, that meant his charge Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Mystic Shield had refused to come when he invited him as he and his first four students were quite busy at the dojo. After the events concerning the "smoking dragon in the mountain", more ponies have enrolled and he's got his hooves full teaching them, correcting their mistakes, encouraging the doubtful ones, the pressures a typical martial arts teacher would have to endure.

Just before he reached that particular car, he encountered six particular Ponyvillians and greeted them accordingly.

"Berry Punch! Shoeshine! Carrot Top! Bon Bon! Lyra! Cherry Berry!"

The first was an earth pony with a light plum coat, mulberry-colored hair, violet eyes, and a grape-and-strawberry cutie mark. The last one was also an earth pony, but with grayish indigo eyes, brilliant gold hair styled like Lightning Bolt's, a hot pink coat, and a pair of cherries as a cutie mark. He could also see that Heartstrings was 'putting on' a pair of contact lenses that made her eyes look magenta like Rainbow Dash. The four of them had taken two pairs of bunk-style berths opposite each other's. Cherry's was at the top one to the left with Carrot's right below. Lyra's was at the other side, with Bon Bon's on top.

"Hey, Chronicle!", they all greeted as he then passed them by, but not before noticing a bonnet on Lyra's bed.

As he made it to where his friends were bunking in, he saw them doing miscellaneous stuff. To his right, his charge was reading a book. At the top bunk there, Fluttershy was resting peacefully. At the bunk opposite hers, Rainbow Dash was as well. Directly to his right, there were party-related stuff scattered; Pinkie Pie was supposed to be there. He made his way to the next pair of bunks, where Spike was snacking on some popcorn to his left. The bunk above his was properly made, and there was a slight hint of perfume, presumably from Rarity. Chronicle's own bunk was on the right at the top, with the bottom one reserved for Applejack.

As he then looked ahead to the next car, he saw Rarity making her way to the caboose. He then remembered that Applejack was there, making sure their cargo was safe. Just as he was about to follow Rarity, Pinkie suddenly popped out of the bed next to him, with no prior hint of her being there.

"Hey, Chronicle!", she said. "Remember to keep your promise."

The stallion sighed, "I will." as he continued on his way. Sometime before their train trip, Pinkie Pie had managed to figure out Chronicle's secret. That he had put something on them while they were unconscious after they purged Nightmare Moon from Princess Luna. He had no idea how she found out, but she told him to (promise to) confide it with the others as soon as he can. For some reason, the prospect of breaking a promise with her didnguilt't sound really appealing.

His thoughts were cut off as he heard Rarity yell, "Applejack!" Catching sight of her ahead, he joined her as she continued. "Applejack! Were you reading a bedtime story to—" Chronicle then looked at the end of the caboose to see— "—an apple tree?" tucked into a bed under an apple-patterned blanket. Applejack was staring at the two unicorns as they approached her, also seeing a story book on the floor next to the bed.

"Heh…uh…well, you know, bein' replanted in a whole new place is very upsettin' for a tree.", the earth pony explained, then fluffed its leaves. "And Bloomberg here is one of my favorites."

"No fair, Applejack!", the white unicorn complained "You've got a luxurious private sleeper car for a tree, while I am crowded and cramped in the same car with all the other ponies!" She then got in close to Applejack, whining. "How am I supposed to get my beauty sleep?"

"But Bloomberg's the whole reason we're makin' this trip. He needs his rest so we can give him as a gift to my relatives in Appleloosa."

"Hmph! You talk about it as if it's your baby or something."

Applejack was needled at this. "Who you callin' a baby? Bloomberg's no baby!" In a flurry of hoofsteps, she turned to the bed and snuggled with the dense foliage, speaking in a manner hypocritical to her previous statement; baby talk. "Don't wet wittle Wawity make you all saddy-waddy. Bloomberg's a big and strong apple tree. Yes he is. A-coochie-coochie-coo-coo-coo."

Chronicle turned to look at Rarity, who looked like she wanted to throw Applejack from the train. "It's wittle Rarity who's all saddy-waddy." Rarity then headed for the door with a frustrated grunt, while Applejack paid no mind whatever.

Just before she left, Chronicle called out to her, "Rarity, could you please call the others in here? I have something important to tell all of you. And bring in Spike as well. He needs to know this too." The fashionista nodded before going through the door.

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

A few minutes later, everypony else (and Spike) was gathered near Bloomberg. As they watched their stallion friend close the curtains, then secured the way out, making sure no one would intervene. After dispatching a magical clone to keep watch, he then gathered everybody in a circle.

"This better be worth it.", Rainbow Dash said impatiently.

"Don't worry, it will.", Chronicle replied. "And may I request that nobody—"

"Nopony.", Pinkie corrected.

The stallion silently gestured to Spike, who was not a pony. "—nobody interrupt my explanation. Questions will come after." He then 'procured' something gray and metallic from "hammerspace". It had the dimensions of a doormat but was slimmer, and seemed to have a button too small for a hoof to press. The stallion pushed it with the tip of his hoof and one side "came to life", eliciting cries of surprise and astonishment from the others. This side was what Chronicle called a "monitor", which was currently showing lots of small "icons", some of which his friends recognized as their cutie marks, a symbol reminiscent of his, and a green flame.

"I work for a small organization in Canterlot—the name of which I am not not permitted to divulge to just anyone—that employs bodyguards such as myself.", he explained. "We are quite diligent in our job, but we aren't the type who look intimidating or cold. We also have measures to watch our charges even if they don't want to be guarded." He then 'rotated' the "device" so that everyone can see. "This thing here is one of them, although it's a prototype. By prototype, it means it's not completely tested if it works effectively. We call it Surveillance." (1)

Chronicle then used the tip of his hoof to tap four of the symbols and smaller "rectangles" popped out from the screen. "What you see right now is what my 'cameras' are seeing. They are made to be invisible to the unaided eye and undetectable by any conventional methods, including magic. Not even splashing liquid or hurling something at its position will reveal it." _Although I wouldn't put it past Celestia to be able to detect them should she set her mind into it._

"As you can see, what you're seeing right now in the four 'screens' is what the cameras I've set on Pinkie Pie, Spike, Twilight Sparkle, and myself. I can also hear what's around them too." His friends looked closer to the screen, then saw that—judging by the glimpses of their manes—his words were true. The three that were "surveyed" drew back, and three screens displayed accordingly. Pinkie Pie then turned her head to a random direction—and her face was now looking at the invisible camera on her.

"Now, I know what you're all thinking, girls, Spike.", Chronicle quickly spoke up on seeing the nervous faces on Fluttershy and Rarity, ignoring Pinkie who was making faces. "This thing here has a lot of perverse potential. After all, with this, I'm effectively spying on you in every hour of every minute of every day. However, I will confide to you a flaw in this system of mine here."

"For some reason, my 'cameras' don't return what they see to my 'screen' at certain times. Although of course, you wouldn't take my word for it." Chronicle 'closed' the 'screen' focused on him and then tapped another symbol. This time, the new 'screen' showed up, but there was nothing but gray random dots. There was also a strange noise that sounded…"white", according to Pinkie.

"I understand that things will not be the same between us even after I just come clean with this. This conversation wasn't even supposed to happen as the Surveillance is classified. The only reason I told you all of this is because Pinkie Pie somehow found out." Chronicle then let out a deep sigh, not wanting to look at anyone in the room, and looking real guilty and sorry.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP

In Chronicle's dreams…

In his dark expanse, Chronicle was visited by not just Blue Diary, but Timerity as well. Blue was looking very cross with his siblings, at Chronicle for revealing the Surveillance to his friends (even though some of the confession was made up), and at Timerity for doing the same thing.

"I can't believe you two.", groaned Blue as he put a hoof to his face. "It hasn't been that long and you already had to confide part of your secret?"

"Hey, it can't be helped that one of my friends happens to have Toon traits.", Timerity countered.

"Toon traits?", Chronicle echoed. "Please remind me of the meaning."

Timerity groaned before explaining. "Toon traits are attributes we classify to an individual that has an uncanny ability to defy the laws of physics if what they do can be seen as funny to anyone seeing "recorded sightings" of the event, like the ones we make to be sent to "client worlds". Also, they are capable of sensing the "fourth wall", ranging from mere glancing at it to outright breaking it."

"Oh. I believe one of my friends has those traits as well."

"Really? What a coincidence!"

"Guess I'm lucky none of mine are.", sighed Blue. "But what am I going to do with you two? You're in for some serious penalties once we get back home."

"Yeah, I guess.", sighed Timerity.

"Okay, is there any form of good news you guys got?", Blue asked.

"Well, there's—" All of a sudden, Chronicle seemed to freeze in place and fade out of sight for a moment.

C—T—BD—C—T—BD—C—T—BD—C—T—BD

Back in the waking world, Equestria Prime…

It was nighttime, and everypony should have been asleep. However, four of Chronicle's friends were awake conversing in low voices. But it wasn't low enough for one of them. Namely, Spike cried out.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" He then grabbed his pillow, jumped out of his berth, and made his way out of the sleeping car, making his way to the caboose. Before he left, the girls heard him say, "Man, I wish I could sleep as deep as Chronicle."

Unbeknownst to him, said stallion stirred for a moment in his bunk opposite to Rarity's before going back to sleep.

C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S

Back in dreamland…

After a while, Chronicle finally stopped fading and was moving again, much to his siblings' relief. However, he didn't continue from where he was cut off as he felt what had happened to him as well and was caught by surprise.

"What was that?", Blue Diary asked.

"I think he was nearly awoken.", Timerity guessed.

"Okay." The sole pegasus then turned to Chronicle. "Now where were you again?"

"Well, last "letter to Princess Celestia", we went up a mountain to—"

"Send off a sleeping dragon, where your cowardly pegasus friend stood up for all of you when things got bad?", Timerity guessed.

"That's right!", Chronicle replied in surprise, then gave a smile as his face relaxed in a dreamy manner, "It was one of the best moments of my life."

"Too bad my Fluttershy is more of a introvert than yours.", Blue muttered.

Just then, what had happened to Chronicle just a minute ago began to happen to Timerity as well. This time, instead of eventually fading back in, she was completely gone; she was now awake back in Solaris Equestria.

"…Okay.", Chronicle said. "At first, I was a bit unnerved that her world is just like mine, except you swap everybody's gender, even though that should technically be impossible. It almost feels like the events in my world affect what happens in hers. I even thought that we were going to lose our differences."

"Now what kind of worrying is that?", Blue asked. "The denizens of her world are just alternate gender-swapped selves of the ones in yours. And Timerity's not you as a girl. You know that."

"Well, when I got hit by poison joke, I did take in her appearance. Did she take mine?"

Blue shook his head. "Nope. Her body did get large, though. In the likeness of Applejack's older sibling. That is in our worlds. In hers, it became like Applejack's."

"Man, it's confusing to have a gender-neutral name."

"Tell me about it. Well, now that your Surveillance is revealed, what are you going to do about it?"

"Well, I did offer to use it in case any of us get lost, and also to call for the others just in case. However, you do know it's prone to losing connection whenever you need it most, right?"

"Yeah. Life would be very easy otherwise."

C—T—BD—C—T—BD—C—T—BD—C—T—BD

The next morning…

A rumbling in the train caused Rainbow Dash, who was asleep in her berth, to be thrown to the floor, waking up the other ponies in the sleeping car—except for Chronicle, who hasn't so much as stirred. For some reason, Applejack decided not to sleep with the rest of them, nor was she tending to Bloomberg. The five who have awoken gathered at the window for a look. They made a collective gasp as they saw a herd of buffalo charging alongside the train; some of them have Indian-style feathers tucked behind their ears.

Twilight cried out, "A buffalo stampede!"

The others began to murmur to one another. "I just love their accessories.", Rarity commented.

Twilight, however, seemed to be worried. "They're getting awfully close to the train."

A few seconds later, the buffalo tackled some of the sleeping cars (and the lead stallion of the four-horsepower pulling team), sending the five mares off the floor and walls. Chronicle still didn't so much as stir from his slumber. That is until his friends landed on him all at once, jolting him awake and making him create a barrier around himself by reflex and expand it to push his friends off of him. However, Rarity got squeezed into a corner before he dismissed the barrier.

"What's going on?!", he asked before Rainbow Dash fell on him, having been pushed to the ceiling by his barrier. "Oww!"

"There's a hard of buffalo stampeding next to the train.", Twilight explained.

_Buffalo? Here?_, he thought as he got Rainbow off of him and made his way to the window and took a good look at them. _Hmm…Indians…_ His eyes then widened. _If this is what I think it is…_

His thoughts were cut off by Pinkie leaping next to him, the others gathering behind them. "Ooh, looky!", "Now they're doing tricks!"

From what they could see, one buffalo jumped onto the back of another, then, what looked like a female calf, marked by a feathered headband and a lighter brown tuft of hair above it, raced up to the small 'tower'. A couple of agile leaps then put her on top of the double-decker rushers and at the level of the train cars' roofs.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!", Pinkie said. "Now do a backflip!" Instead of doing that, the calf just jumped onto the nearest roof. Inside, the ponies were startled by an impact above their heads—she has landed on their car. "Or just jump?"

They could then hear racing hoofbeats moving away from the group—and right for the caboose. "Hmm.", Rainbow wondered. "Something tells me this isn't a circus act."

"You're right.", agreed Chronicle as the two of them took off. "I think this is a train robbery. Classic."

"They're gonna steal the train?", Pinkie asked as Chronicle stopped, leaving Rainbow to continue on out of an open window.

"If they were, I would have said 'train theft'." His horn then glowed as he cast a spell. "I mean, does one steal a bank in a bank robbery? No, they steal money **in** the bank."

Meanwhile, on the train roof, a magical clone of Chronicle manifested itself. The clone turned around to see the buffalo calf charging from car to car, barely breaking stride at the gaps. He made his way after her, a fair distance away. Ahead, he could see Rainbow plant herself in the calf's way, saying something that he couldn't catch. However, the pegasus then jumped up to dodge after it was apparent that the calf was not stopping.

As Chronicle got close, he said Rainbow fly after the calf, with the two of them neck and neck. This time, he was able to hear what they were saying now that he was close enough.

"Wow. You're pretty quick for someone so…bulky. No offense.", his friend said before zipping ahead and planting herself a few cars ahead. "I just want to know—" The calf interrupted her by swerving around her. "—hey!" This time with a rather shorter temper, Rainbow put herself in the calf's path again. All the while, Chronicle was getting closer. "I'm talking to you!"

And the calf answered by launching herself to an impossible height, doing a couple of midair somersaults, then came down behind Rainbow to continue her sprint.

"Whoa!"

While Chronicle did have the opportunity to shoot the calf down with a magic shot, hurling someone off a train wasn't something he was aiming for. However, this jump then prompted him that she's not stopping. With that, he cast a spell on his legs and quickly began to close the distance, charging up a magic shot, then shooting it.

"I've got you now, you—", the young speedster said before racing past the calf, who dived into the gap—also evading Chronicle's "shuriken"—, and collided into a railroad crossbuck sign and sliding down the signpost to the sand with a groan.

As for Chronicle, he stopped just at the next-to-last car, seeing the buffalo calf glancing briefly down the track before ducking in behind the caboose.

"Hey!", he called at the calf, flaring his horn for a spell. "If this is what I think it is, you better not do it!"

He was ignored as the calf yanked out the peg securing the coupling, allowing the caboose to roll free as the buffalo then jumped up to the roof. She raised a hoof, about to somehow give a whistle when Chronicle came down on her with his "magic horn blade" drawn.

The calf jumped back as the stallion landed on the train, then followed up with another slash, which was dodged. His "blade" was 'set' to "bludgeon", so he wasn't going to hurt her much. After evading a few more attacks, the calf went on the offensive and Chronicle the evasive and they began alternating from there.

Just then, the real Chronicle emerged from the door of the now-last car, lasso covered in his aura and held in his teeth. He was learning a bit of lasso use from Applejack, but he wasn't experienced enough yet (his previous use on it with Gilda being beginner's luck). He 'moved' the 'tying' end of the lasso to the caboose's coupling, secured it in place, then 'tied' his end to the one of the car he is on. He then 'reinforced' the rope with magic as it obviously wouldn't hold the cars on its own.

Back on top of the caboose, his clone and the buffalo calf were still facing off against one another, neither having dealt a blow to the other. And then something gave; Chronicle's clone made a misstep and had to balance himself for a second. This second gave the buffalo calf time to strike him, dissipating him into white twinkling lights.

She was shocked at this for a second, almost thinking she…well, but then she saw the real Chronicle, who briefly lost concentration from taking in the knowledge his clone had before his automatic dismissal. These few seconds caused the rope he was 'keeping together' to snap and break apart.

Now that nopony was impeding her task, the buffalo calf whistled. At that, the rest of the buffalo herd began to peel away from their assault on the train and reversed direction to push the caboose backwards. And there was nothing Chronicle could to to stop them now.

He could only watch in scorn and defeat as his friends gathered at the door, Applejack joining them with a shocked gasp.

"They've got Bloomberg!", the farmpony cried out.

Then they could then see Spike plastering himself against the caboose window, his cries for help muffled by the glass. "And Spike!", Twilight added.

"Dammit!", Chronicle cursed as he got up and slammed a hoof to the wall, angry at himself. "I should have been up there. I should've gone up there myself. If I had been, I could've held out longer against that buffalo calf. I can't let myself be useless."

He felt a hoof on his shoulder, then turned around to see Twilight. "Chronicle, you're far from useless. You never have been."

"I know, but still…"

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—?—C—TS—S—RD—R—F—PP—?

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- Chronicle and company on the exit of the last car, wearing expressions of distress. The show's logo is seen on the lower left.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—?—C—TS—S—RD—R—F—PP—?

Later…

Just as the train was nearing its destination, Chronicle was asking his charge something. "I got a quick question for you. If the train's pulled by earth ponies, why does it even have a locomotive? I mean, it obviously isn't burning wood or coal." _Is there even coal here in Equestria?_

"Coal? What's that?"

_Guess there isn't._ "Never mind." He then looked outside. "Looks like we're here."

From what he could see as the train slowed, they were in a Wild West-style town. The train stopped at a railroad depot, which had apple-decorated signs on the walls and above the door. _This must be Appleloosa._ As everypony began to depart, Chronicle and his friends did so too. Just as they scrambled out onto the platform, they stopped short.

Directly in front of them, and grinning into their faces, was a light yellow-brown earth pony stallion whose mane and tail showed two darker shades of this same color. His eyes were bright yellow-green, and he wore a brown cowboy hat and vest. His cutie mark depicted a large red apple.

"Hey there.", the stallion greeted, his friendly voice carrying a "Western" twang. "Welcome to Appleloosa!" Chronicle noted that when this guy said "Appleloosa," he reared up with a neigh and held out the first syllable.

"Braeburn, listen.", said Applejack. "We—"

"Cousin Applejack, mind your manners. You have yet to introduce me to your compadres. Shame on you!"

"Braeburn, listen. Somethin' terrible's happened."

"Terrible is right. Your train is a full seven minutes late. That's seven minutes less for you to delight in the pleasures and wonders of Appleloosa!"

_I wonder if I should cut in?_ Chronicle decided to take a look at the street, which was now filled with earth ponies going about their business. There would be nothing but those as he would discover later. For some reason, he could also see Apple Fritter, even though he last saw her in Ponyville Park a few days ago. _Maybe she took an earlier train._ Back on the platform, Braeburn bulldozed him and his friends away and down to ground level.

"Boggles the mind we settler ponies built all this in just the past year, don't it?", said Braeburn as the blue unicorn stallion noticed a tumbleweed bounce by. "And as you can see, we have all of the finest comforts." Braeburn turned their attention to a stagecoach being pulled along a street. "Like horse-drawn carriages. "

The puller, a brown stallion with black hair and a white stetson stopped in his tracks and turned to the window. "Okay, you pull now."

A second pony—a blue stallion with messy hair of a darker shade, hazel eyes, and two musical notes as a cutie mark—popped out and complained, "Aw, we just switched!"

_Weird…_, Chronicle thought as this stallion stepped out to switch places. He would soon come to know this particular blue stallion as Noteworthy, who would someday move to Ponyville.

Braeburn then led the tour to another part of the street and pointed. "And those there are horse-drawn, horse-drawn carriages."

The tourists looked and saw three ponies who are sketching the passing stagecoach with pencils in their mouths. That is, a drawing done by a horse, depicting a carriage pulled by another one. Chronicle smacked himself in the face with a hoof at the sight. One of the sketchers was a Ponyvillian stallion he couldn't recall by name and the other two were Berry Punch and Shoeshine.

"Listen, Braeburn, I—", Applejack tried to cut in before they were all bulldozed again, this time to a building whose sign showed a salt shaker.

"And here's our local waterin' hole, the Salt Block!", Braeburn continued as a pony was flung out through the batwing doors.

"That's enough salt for you!", someone called from inside, presumably the bartender.

The grizzled old stallion got up to his hind legs, losing his hat, and stumbled back and forth. "Can't I at least get a glass of water?", the customer asked woozily before keeling over.

A properly dressed bartender stallion (complete with monocle, vest, mustache, and salt shaker cutie mark) was then seen at the doors, who soon backed up into the place to resume his job. Chronicle did another 'facehoof' before they were all shoved by Braeburn in front of what is apparently the sheriff's office, where the law pony lounged against a post.

Khaki stallion, brown mane/tail, black mustache, red bandana around neck, blue eyes, dark gray hat, silver star both as his cutie mark and pinned to his blue vest. "Over there's the office of Sheriff Silverstar.", Braeburn introduced before pushing his tourists again, stopping to let them see ponies dancing merrily in a clearing.

"And here's where we have our Wild West dances." Chronicle could recognize the same blue stallion from the horse-drawn carriage, Golden Harvest, Shoeshine, Daisy, and two Ponyvillian stallions whose names eluded his mind before being pushed again to another group shown dancing sedately. "And here's where we have our Mild West dances." Among these, he could see Apple Fritter among the five ponies. _Ain't it a bit strange to see familiar Ponyville faces in Appleloosa? Looks like we aren't the only ones who decided to take a trip here._

"But, Braeburn, we—", Applejack tried to cut in again before they were all plowed onto a ridge.

"And here's the most wonderful sight in all of Appleloosa!", their tour guide said again, showing them acres upon acres of apple trees, all loaded with fruit. "Our apple orchard."

Applejack was getting impatient. "Braeburn!"

As usual, Braeburn wasn't listening. "First harvest should be any day now."

Chronicle decided he had enough of this 'pretty boy blabbermouth' and 'took out' his paddle. While this tour was nice, interrupting such vital news was something he won't tolerate, especially given the last time, which involved a dragon.

"Braebu—"

"Good thing, too."

He was ready to smack this stallion, the paddle near the back of his head.

"Brae—"

"'Cause we need that grub to live on."

Chronicle 'brought' his paddle down on Braeburn's head, just as Applejack yelled her cousin's name, knocking him out of his blabbering.

The earth pony stallion shook his head for a while before replying, "Uh…yes, cuz?"

"You have a very nice town and all, but we have a huge problem. Some of our friends are missin'!", Applejack started.

"A stampede of buffalo!", Fluttershy continued.

"They took Spike!" Rarity.

"Rainbow Dash went after them!" Twilight.

"And we can't find Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy again.

_And my Surveillance can't find __**them**__._ Chronicle, but mentally. _Why oh why is it not working on them now?_

"And we had an apple tree with us for your orchard, but they took that too!", finished Applejack.

This sequence of bad news threw her cousin for such a loop that one eye shrunk to a point while the other dilated beyond all measure. It took him a moment to get his vision sorted out. "Did you say 'buffalo'?" The five ponies around him nodded and he sighed heavily, turning away. "Them buffalo! They want us settler ponies to take every single tree you see here off this land. They sure as hay don't want any new ones added in."

"But why?", asked Fluttershy.

"Beats me. We put a lot of hard work into this land so we could feed our town, our families, our foals. And now they're sayin' all these trees have to go? 'Tain't fair."

As they all looked over the trees in concern, Chronicle pondered to himself. _I wonder what these buffalo are like? If they're like who I think they're like, I'm sure we can come to a compromise. I hope my clone is having better luck._

C—TS—A—R—F—B—C—TS—A—R—F—B

Elsewhere…

In a stretch of desert land, nowhere near Appleloosa, a magical clone of Chronicle's was walking out in the open, 'holding up' a feather from Rainbow Dash's wing. He had used a spell to pinpoint its owner's location, but it took a lot of magic energy to use and it only lasts for a few seconds. The effects were lasting longer though with each use. Still, he had to save some for defense. Being a magical clone meant he was very fragile; one hit and he was a goner.

Just then, he saw a very familiar face popping out from the scatter of boulders. _Bingo._ Hiding behind a nearby boulder, he watched his friend duck away and tiptoe to another boulder. After another furtive look, she dove to an even closer one and came up again.

Chronicle (the clone) made his way closer, hiding behind boulders as well, when he noticed Pinkie Pie sneaking around as well. _Oh, there she is._ He then saw her come nose to nose with Rainbow, surprising the latter as she cried out and fell on her back.

He could hear rumbling in the distance as his two friends talked, Pinkie's voice being the louder one. He looked ahead to see a herd of buffalo headed in their direction. Luckily, none have come up in the direction he came from. He considered giving some sort of warning, but that would give away his position as well, leaving him to watch as the buffalo soon surrounded his two friends.

After a few seconds, the bovine behemoths seemed to begin to move in. Immediately, Chronicle decided to rush in as well, but then he heard a familiar voice cry out, "STOP!" To his surprise, they did so and as the stallion slowed, he saw the buffalo back off to either side, creating a dust-choked aisle in which a silhouette became visible. As he (as well as Pinkie and Rainbow from the 'other side') stared dumbfounded, the haze cleared to reveal Spike quite unharmed and very much at ease.

"Dash, Pinkie! 'Sup?", he called. So far,ju nobody noticed Chronicle. "Hey, no worries, I know those guys." He then addressed one of the buffalo. "They're cool."

"If you say so, Spike.", the buffalo replied in a "surfer-dude" accent, hoof/fist-bumping him. "Catch you later, bro." He and his buddies then stampeded away, leaving a properly bewildered pegasus and earth pony in their wake. Once the buffalo were gone, the two and Spike then noticed the unicorn watching what happened.

"Chronicle!", Pinkie cried out as she jumped straight for him in a pounce, which he successfully strafed.

"Watch it!", the blue stallion cried out. "This ain't the real me here!"

"You're his magical clone?", Rainbow asked.

"Yes."

"Remind us again how to tell you from the real you."

"Only a keen eye can see that I'm slightly translucent."

"Yup!", agreed Pinkie as she came up from behind him. "I can see a bit of the area through him, although it's rather faint."

"Else, you'll have to take my word for it.", Chronicle continued as if she hadn't interrupted him.

"Come on, guys!", said Spike as he began to walk off. "I'll take you to meet the buffalo."

C—S—RD—PP—C—S—RD—PP—C—S—RD—PP

Nighttime…

The four foreigners now found themselves sitting around a campfire, surrounded by buffalo and a clutch of tepees.

_Yup._, thought Chronicle. _Definitely Indians._

"Seems they took me by mistake.", Spike explained. "They feel awful about it too, poor guys. Fortunately, they totally respect dragons—" He snapped his fingers and the three ponies were given a bowl of something brown, mushy, and unappetizing-looking. "—so they treat me like an honored guest." Rainbow sniffed, stuck out her tongue, and pushed it away. "Still don't like ponies much, though, but you're with me, so it's cool."

Chronicle didn't eat the mush either, but for different reasons; being a clone, he did not need sustenance from food. As long as the real one (back in Appleloosa) kept himself well-fed, he'll be just fine.

"Huh. Well, I still don't trust 'em.", Rainbow said as she stood up and readied herself to leave. "I say we turn tail and bail while we still—" She stopped upon realizing that Pinkie has buried her face in her own bowl and was gobbling the stuff down. She lifted her splattered face out as Rainbow regarded her incredulously.

"Before we finish eating? Are you loco in the coco?", asked Pinkie.

Chronicle then noticed the buffalo calf from the train robbery bring a bowl of something decidedly more solid over to Spike. He made himself discreet and turned away.

"Can I please have more of that mushy stuff, whatever it was?"

"Certainly!", replied the calf. "And Mr. Spike, you like gemstones, yes?"

"Turquoise!", the dragon said as he eagerly downed the bowlful in one gulp. "This here's Little Strongheart." He introduced the calf, then the ponies "And these are my friends Pinkie Pie, Chronicle—"

Strongheart gasped upon seeing him. "Are you…"

"I'm a copy.", Chronicle answered as Pinkie waved at her. "Just like the one you dispatched back on the train. No hard feelings, though. We were just on different standpoints and perspectives, that's all."

Spike waited for a second before turning his hand on the pegasus, And that's Rainbow Dash."

The pegasus gave an annoyed huff over her shoulder, then started in surprise. "You!"

Strongheart was just as surprised. "You!"

"That's it!" Rainbow started to trot away. "We are outta here!"

Pinkie could do nothing but tack a sheepish grin onto her newly clean face before Rainbow leaned back to get a mouthful of tail hairs and drag her off. Chronicle sighed as he turned to leave as well. However, the young buffalo intercepted them.

"Wait!", Strongheart pleaded. Rainbow let go of Pinkie. "Please accept my apologies for what happened on the train. We didn't mean for anyone to be hurt."

"Yeah, right." Rainbow turned away, only to be cut off again by Strongheart.

"We only wanted the tree. The settler ponies have overtaken the land and have planted an orchard all over it! Because of their thoughtlessness, we can no longer run over our traditional stampeding grounds."

"Huh?", the mares voiced their confusion.

"I think I have a hint.", mumbled the stallion.

Spike went up to Strongheart and said, "I think it's time they met Chief Thunderhooves."

Strongheart gave a little start as Rainbow looked daggers across the way.

C—S—RD—PP—LS—C—S—RD—PP—LS—C—S—RD—PP—LS

Later…

The four visitors now stood by the fire, at the center of a ring of buffalo. Strongheart, across from them, was next to one clad in a large feathered headdress, who spoke in a deep and pompous voice. This was whom Chronicle presumed to be Chief Thunderhooves.

"We have a long and winding stampeding trail that we have run upon for many generations.", he said. "My father stampeded upon these grounds, and his father before him, and his father before him, and—"

"Pardon me, chieftain, but I think we get the idea.", Chronicle interrupted as he raised a hoof, noticing some of the other buffalo beginning to doze off. "Basically, for as long as you can remember, your ancestors have stampeded on the trail."

"Hmph. It is a sacred tradition to run the path every year. But this year, these…" His voice now showed great contempt. "…settler ponies, these…" He began to snort steam. "…Appleloosans…" More steam chuffed out of the great black nostrils, but a touch from Strongheart calmed him somewhat.

"They planted apple trees all over it without asking our permission.", finished Strongheart.

_Oh dear._, groaned Chronicle. _Settlers versus natives. I've heard of this conflict before…_

"Well, that's not very nice.", said Pinkie. "Right, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow turned away, crossed her forelegs, and sat on her haunches. "Hmph!"

"The ponies refuse to move their trees, so we are stuck here, and it is not fair!", finished Strongheart.

"See, Rainbow Dash?", said Spike. "They had a good reason to—" He was cut off by her abrupt vertical takeoff. A moment later, she made a perfect four-point landing to face the two buffalo. There were gasps from them and the herd.

"I'll say they had a good reason!", she said as she stomped, then looped, hovering near the Chief. "Come on! We have some apple-picking Appleloosans to talk to!"

Pinkie, Spike, and the herd were shocked but happy to find that she has come around to their side this quickly. As for Chronicle… _I hope we could come to a compromise. I don't want an all-out war to start._ Little did he know that the real him had thought of the same thing earlier in the day back at Appleloosa.

C—S—RD—PP—LS—CT—C—S—RD—PP—LS—CT

The next day…

At a ridge overlooking Appleloosa, Twilight and co. (with the real Chronicle) and Braeburn were preparing for an out-of-town trip. All of them save for Chronicle had saddlebags on, and Applejack was adjusting Rarity's with an energetic pull on the strap.

"Ow! Ooh! Gently, please!"

"Sorry, Rarity, but our friends are out there and we have to be ready for a long hike into buffalo territory if we're gonna save 'em." Chronicle looked over to the sun-baked territory ahead as Applejack reared up. "Let's go!"

All six galloped off, but got no more than a few hundred yards before coming across Pinkie, Rainbow, Spike, and Chronicle's clone. Twenty-four hooves screeched to a halt and five throats gasped.

"Hi, guys!", Pinkie greeted before Fluttershy tackled her.

"Pinkie! We're so glad you're safe!"

As Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity expressed similar sentiments, Chronicle went over to his copy, then dismissed him, rubbing his head afterward as his clone's memories seeped into his brain.

"How did you escape from the buffalo?", Twilight asked.

"We didn't.", Pinkie answered. From a rock behind her, Strongheart leaped out from behind it and nervously pawed the ground as Twilight and co. gasped.

Rainbow explained, "We promised the buffalo a chance to talk."

"Oh, yeah? 'Bout what?", asked Applejack as the calf stood side by side with the cyan pegasus.

Rainbow threw foreleg over Strongheart's shoulders. "We brought our new pal Little Strongheart here to explain to the Appleloosans why they should move the apple trees off buffalo land." As she finished, she pushed the young calf over for a face-to-face with Braeburn.

"That information will be quite help—" Braeburn began before being cut off by his cousin, who shoved him even closer.

"That's weird, 'cause my cousin Braeburn here wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay."

"That would be a useful thing to—", Strongheart began before Rainbow cut her off.

"The land is theirs!" The pegasus then flew over. "You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now you just gotta move 'em, that's all."

"Well, heh—" Braaeburn.

"They busted their rumps here!", Applejack countered. "And now they're supposed to bust their rumps again just 'cause some buffalo won't stampede someplace else?" By this point, she and Rainbow were in each other's faces.

"Plant the trees somewhere else!"

"Where? It's the only flat land around these parts!" The farmpony indicated a nearby area covered with rocks, cacti, and weeds.

"The buffalo had it first!"

"The settler ponies need it to live!"

Braeburn and Strongheart stood forgotten as these two launch into a shouting match, with an apprehensive Twilight averting her eyes until she has had enough.

"Look!", the unicorn said and her two friends shut up. "Both the settlers and the buffalo have good reasons to use this land." She then turned toward Fluttershy, Rarity, and Chronicle. "There must be something we can do."

"Well…", the unicorn stallion said as he thought of something, then turned to Strongheart. "How wide is the stampeding trail?"

"What are you getting to?", asked the calf before they were interrupted by Pinkie, who jumped and hung in midair.

"Hey! I've got an idea!", she said as she landed on the ground with a thud.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B—C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B

Later…

At a stage just outside Appleloosa, there was a crowd of settlers and buffalo gathered, all of them making nervous murmurings. At the front were Chronicle, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Braeburn, Silverstar, Strongheart, and Thunderhooves.

On stage was Spike wearing a bowler hat. He was also playing a piano. Moderate 4, D major. Chronicle was no music expert, so he had no idea how he keeps knowing the chords. Also, he noted that whenever he notes the chords of an upcoming song, it was a Pinkie Pie song. Well, the first song was an exception, and so were the ones during the ticket fiasco.

Just then, Pinkie Pie popped out from behind the stage's curtain, a long blue feather poking out from her mane. She turned to Spike, who flipped her a thumbs-up, then pulled her head back out of sight.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=E5xuugLJtrU)

_Now Playing: You Got to Share, You Got to Care_

The curtain shortly opened to expose a large, closed oyster resting on the stage. When it creaked open, Pinkie was seen lying inside, dressed in what Chronicle would identify as a typical Wild West saloon girl dress.

_We may be divided, but of you all I beg_  
_To remember we're all hoofed at the end of each leg_

The crowd seemed a bit puzzled at this exhibition. The music paused as Pinkie was lifted to the stage by Apple Fritter and another similar-looking pony. Once Pinkie was down, the two of them zipped away. The music then resumed, in a much faster tempo this time as Pinkie hopped about.

_No matter what the issue, come from wherever you please_  
She then zipped to a buffalo, pulling at his mouth.  
_All this fighting gets you nothing but hoof-in-mouth disease_  
She then let the lip snap back and returned to the stage, popping up from the piano.  
_Arguing's not the way, hey, come out and play_  
She then returned to the stage.  
_It's a shiny new day, so what do you say?_

As she then began to dance, Chronicle noticed that Rainbow's wings were unfurled. For some reason, it reminded him of something…suggestive.  
_You gotta share, you gotta care_  
Chronicle noted that the crowd wasn't yet exactly warming up to her performance.  
_It's the right thing to do_  
_You gotta share, you gotta care_  
_And there'll always be a way through_

She then popped up between Strongheart and Silverstar and shoved an apple into each one's mouth.

_Both our diets, I should mention, are completely vegetarian_  
Back on stage, four other ponies—two mares and two stallions—gathered behind her, one of them Apple Fritter, and another Ponyvillian whose name still eluded him.  
_We all eat hay and oats, why be at each other's throat?_  
The four ponies formed a kick line with her.  
_You gotta share, you gotta care_  
_It's the right thing to do_  
_And there'll always be a way through_

She held out the last note as the two stallions held her aloft on their front hooves, while the mares looked on.

_End Song_

There was a dead silence from the entire audience, broken only by Spike's solitary clapping and the distant cry of an eagle. Chronicle wanted to make a slow clap, but the only applause he knew of that ponies do was to stomp on the ground. So that was what he did, although slowly. As he applauded, he turned to his charge, who covered her eyes with a foreleg out of embarrassment. He then turned back to the stage as Pinkie took a bow.

"All right, Pinkie Pie, that was fantastic!", cheered Spike. "What a great song! You're right on!"

Chronicle stopped applauding and turned to Silverstar and the Chief, who look each other full in the eye for a moment, then nodded in unison.

"It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have come to an agreement.", said the chief.

"We have.", agreed the sheriff. Braeburn, Strongheart, and Twilight and her friends leaned in expectantly toward the pair, from onstage and off.

"That was the worst performance we've ever seen." Pinkie and Spike were suddenly dejected.

"Absitively.", Silverstar added with a chuckle.

"The time for action…" A grunt. "…is upon us. Our stampede will start at high noon tomorrow." Thunderhooves then leaned into Silverstar's face. "And if the orchard is still there, we'll flatten it **and** the whole town!"

There was a gasp from the front row, and Strongheart decided to dart in, Chronicle joining in. "But, Chief!", she pleaded.

"Can't we come up with something both sides can agree on?", the unicorn stallion asked.

"And we Appleloosans say you'd better bring your best—" Silverstar then shoved the Chief back. "—'cause we'll be ready and waitin'!"

"But, Sheriff!", Braeburn pleaded.

"Is violence really necessary?", asked Chronicle.

He received no answer as the two factions quickly cleared out, leaving only the Ponyville eight and the Appleloosa one. Pinkie and Spike, still on the stage, tried to figure out how things could have gone so far off the rails.

"Oh…that wasn't the message of my song at all!", she said.

"A song alone won't bring two sides together, you know.", Chronicle said as he turned to face her. "The world isn't that idealistic for it to work."

"I didn't think you were against violence.", Rarity remarked. "Given that it's always an option for you."

"Well, as much as I like fighting, an all-out war still doesn't sit well with me. From what I see, they think violence is the only option left. For me, it's just a viable choice. And even then I start with just a little." He looked on to where the buffaloes ran off to. "I hate to say this, but things are gonna get hectic **pret-ty** soon."

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B—SS—CT

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - Chief Thunderhooves on the left and Sheriff Silverstar on the right glaring at each other. The Ponyville eight at the center, with Little Strongheart at the left and Braeburn at the right looking at their respective leaders in worry. The show's logo is seen on the lower right.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B—SS—CT

Afternoon…

Appleloosa was in full emergency mode. Windows were being closed and boarded up, ponies were getting off the street, apples and other supplies are being hauled away. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Chronicle watched the commotion.

"I want my kin to have what they need to live," the farmpony began. "—but a storm's a-brewin' here, and I don't like the look of it."

"We've just gotta talk some sense into them before somepony gets hurt!", Twilight said.

"I'm afraid given the situation, they're too busy to even pay attention." Chronicle was ignored as his charge, Fluttershy, and Rarity scattered. Twilight was the first to address a couple of the locals. Or to be exact, a local (Noteworthy) and a Ponyvilian siding with them (Cherry Berry).

"Listen. Maybe if you would just reconsider, we—" She was cut off with a hard glance as they then leaped in through the window behind them, pulling the shutters closed, followed by more. At another building, Fluttershy and Rarity were at another pony's front door. This one was wordlessly pushing a cartload of apples inside.

"About the trees.", Rarity began. "Now if you could—" The immediate door slam startled her into a haunch-sitting position and left both Twilight and Applejack at a loss.

C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F

Minutes later…

Appleloosans (or simply anypony who wasn't Twilight Sparkle or a friend of hers) were quickly gathering apples. Chronicle could see Noteworthy and Cherry bucking one tree to reap its fruits. Elsewhere, apples were picked up in teeth, hustled back and forth, and nipped down by the topmost mare in a column of three.

Chronicle could see Berry Punch at the bottom of this column as he and his friends watched the frenzied activity with trepidation. Twilight rushed to one.

"If we could just sit down and talk, we could—" She was cut off by an angry snarl from whom she was trying to talk to as the cart he was loading was hauled away. His charge's dismayed gasp gave way to a resolute glare.

"Why won't anybody be rational and reasonable?!", she screamed as she reared up.

"You know, I sometimes ask myself the same thing every day.", Chronicle commented. "Or was that something else…"

C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F

As the five from Ponyville (to be exact, Twilight and co. as other Ponyvillians were here as well) made their way back to Appleloosa, Chronicle noted the settlers' (and allies') actions.

Nail were being hammered into boards, branches were being sawed, teams of ponies were pulling a log down to rest on support trestles, forming a barricade, more windows are being boarded up, and Braeburn was watching impassively as the last gap in a frame was filled in. He noted that these barricades had nails pointed outward, presumably toward any charging buffalo. The last thought gave him the shudders.

Applejack and company made their way to try and address Silverstar. "Sheriff, if we could only—" she was ignored as he moved out to guide fully loaded carts of apples and flour across the hardpan street. The five of them then decided to peek into one of the buildings.

While the mares looked in worry, the stallion could only stare in confusion. Dough was being rolled flat, apples were being sectioned… an apple pie production operation was in top gear. Two ponies were assembling the pies, while two others tended to the oven; shelves and carts were filled with the steaming desserts.

"Apple pies?", he asked. "I thought they were preparing for a battle, not a sale."

"They **are** preparin' for battle.", Applejack told him. "These pies can pack a punch when thrown. Also, it's what's in the pies that's can be dangerous."

"You mean aside from the apples?"

"Uh-huh." She then went over to whisper in his ear and a few seconds later his eyes shrunk in horror.

"You're right! That **is** terrible!"

"It ain't too horrible, though."

C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F

Later…

At the town square, everypony was gathered around a flagpole in the town square, where Silverstar and Braeburn watched a red flag being raised and Twilight et al. looked on nervously. When the standard reached the top of the pole, the wind unfurled it to expose an apple tree emblazoned across it; hats were tossed skyward and the crowd's cheers floated up.

C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F—C—TS—A—R—F

Twilight and co. were feeling dejected later that night as they slept at Braeburn's place. They were all gathered together at the bed where Chronicle lay. He was awake, and using his Surveillance to check on Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike.

Through the cameras on them, they could see stolid buffaloes charging for each other and banging heads. Another pair was at a grindstone, one of them sharpening his horns against the wheel, the other pumping the foot pedal to keep it turning.

"Uh oh.", muttered Chronicle. "Looks like they're out for bl—"

"Don't say it!", Rarity whispered, glancing at Fluttershy.

Everypony then looked back at the screens, where some buffaloes were applying war paint. The camera on Spike turned to face him and Little Strongheart as they watched the preparations.

"Isn't there some way to stop this?", Spike asked.

"Unless the settlers remove those trees, I do not think so." She then galloped off, but returned almost immediately with a bowl of turquoise chunks that Spike accepted with a deflated little sigh. As the dragon started to munch, Chronicle shifted the 'screens' so that the one on Rainbow was now prominent. She was sitting with Chief Thunderhooves at a campfire.

"I know you don't want to do this.", the pegasus said.

"But they have taken our land. What would you have me do, Rainbow Dash?"

"I don't know. But it's never too late to think of something."

The chief just put war paint on his face. "At noon, it will be too late."

Chronicle then turned off his "monitor" and gave a sigh. "Looks like there's nothing left we could do. 'Cept hold out for a miracle."

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B—SS—CT

The next day…

High noon was approaching as Appleloosa was prepared for a siege. Log barricades have been placed to block the major entry points. Galloping hooves made themselves known as the Chief and Strongheart arrived on the ridge, followed by the entire buffalo herd.

Down below, ponies big and small have taken their positions on the front lines, and Braeburn nervously eyed the town's clock tower as the minute hand advanced—it was now 11:59.

A cart stacked with fresh apple pies was pulled past a building jammed with frightened onlookers and over to Silverstar.

Twilight and company were gathered on some of the tracks, watching as the battle was about to begin. Rainbow sat on her rump and began to tap her forehead. "Come on, think! Think, think, think, think, think, think, think!"

The clock's bell sounded off, drawing everybody's attention, and the minute hand snapped ahead to high noon. After the twelve strikes thrummed dully in the still, silent air, Chronicle turned to his charge.

"Twilight, stick with me and help me with the barrier spell. Keep your horn ready. I don't want us to use up too much magic, so Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, I need you two to hover in the air and warn us of any incoming attacks. Rarity, try and learn this spell. It can save your life. I may also need to borrow your magic in case of an emergency. Pinkie Pie—wait, where is she?"

Sure enough, Pinkie was nowhere in sight. The same went for Applejack. He presumed the latter was somewhere in the battle as well; After all, this was her cousin's home, and members of her family were here.

Chronicle then turned to the Chief in the distance, looking real ready for a fight. He then noticed Strongheart reach in to touch his cheek. He sighed heavily at the sight of her pleading eyes (he presumed), then stared ahead with a sudden uncertainty in his own. This prompting a little gasp from Rainbow and a smile from the entire group.

"He's not gonna do it!", the pegasus said and they all sighed in relief.

But a moment later, all of their eyes bugged out at the sound of Pinkie's singing. She was in her saloon-girl costume from yesterday. With no stage handy, she was doing her song-and-dance on a patch of the arid land.

Chronicle somehow knew this wasn't good as he turned to his charge and yelled, "Twilight, Rarity! I leave the defending to you!" Before anypony could protest, he 'took out' a lasso from "hammerspace" and started galloping towards Pinkie. As he did, he could see the Chief in the distance reacting very, very badly and started to growl.

"CHAAAAAARRRRRRGE!", he bellowed as the entire herd poured over the ridge, and the performing pink pony had time for one terrified deer-in-the-headlights stare before the buffalo plow into her. As she got bounced from one massive back to another, yelling all the while, a lasso loop flew towards her and wrapped itself around her body. She was then pulled away to a safe corner, and she turned to see Chronicle having used it.

"Nice job breaking it, Pinkie Pie!", he yelled, following it by slapping her in the face with his hoof. As the two of them then made their way back to their friends with a barrier around themselves, he could see the ponies at the barricade break for cover. They were wise in doing that as the logs and trestles were smashed to kindling under the herd's sheer tonnage. And the flagpole was next to go.

"Ready!", Silverstar yelled to the ponies behind him, all of them having picked up pies. "Aim!" Chronicle and Pinkie was retreating to their position. "FIRE!"

Just as the unicorn stallion bypassed them, the pies went airborne with the speed and efficiency of a surface-to-surface missile, and that was saying something. Pinkie got split up from Chronicle in the middle of the fight, and he watched as one buffalo after another take a hit to the face and go sprawling to the dust.

In the confusion, while Chronicle wondered how accurate or lucky the throwers were, he noticed Carrot Top leap out of a second-story window, land on a buffalo who was chasing Berry Punch, Heartstrings, and an Appleloosan stallion, and ride him like a bucking bronco.

Three other pairs of adversaries—one of them Apple Fritter—squared off for a little bare-hoof boxing. A rooftop brigade launched its own offensive, taking down two buffaloes. At ground level, Cherry Berry, who stood behind a wall of hay bales threw a pie, then gasped as a buffalo charged at her position. The hit sent both her and several bales flying. At the other end of the wall, another herd member thundered in but knocked himself silly on impact. These bales tumbled away to reveal the hidden anvil he has just slammed into, and the two mares who set it up—one of them Apple Bumpkin—traded a high-five.

As Chronicle continued to look for another safe area, having lost his way in the battle, he saw one buffalo get a pie plastered across his eyes. However, unlike the others, he hasn't gone down. Unable to see where he was going, he veered off to one side and rammed the ground floor of the building that housed the clock tower. Cracks raced up the walls, leading to the whole spire sliding loose from the roof. He could see Bon Bon with a top hat among those who bailed out from their apple-pie emplacement moments before the lumber and clockwork obliterated it.

Once the dust cleared, he could see Chief Thunderhooves leap to a gap in the wreckage and let off a steaming snort, facing the train station, where staggered hay bales have been set up—and where his friends were standing by. Sheriff Silverstar was there too, popping up from behind one, throwing a pie, and ducking. Bales were placed on both sides of the tracks, creating trouble for the buffalo trying to navigate the area.

This did not stop the Chief from hurling himself ahead at full speed. Instantly, Chronicle was on his way to Silverstar as well, a barrier formed around himself to protect from charging buffaloes and thrown pies, although he still had to swerve for the former. While the barrier would protect him from buffaloes, he could still get pushed around just keeping his shield up.

As he made his way closer, he could see Silverstar duck down, and not come up with another pie. It could only mean one thing; the sheriff has run out of ammunition. Peeking up over the bale, he let off a panicked cry as the huge buffalo leader barreled straight through the fusillade toward him.

Silverstar removed his hat and held it over his heart, closing his eyes in preparation for the inevitable. But Chronicle wasn't about to let it happen as he enhanced his running speed. Regardless of sides in a war, he can't let a fatal casualty occur while he can help it. Judging by the Chief's speed, they were gonna make it to Silverstar at around the same time, him being the faster one. That would mean he would be "taking the bullet" for the sheriff, and Chronicle wasn't sure how much damage he would take from the attack.

The question was never answered since just as the Chief leapt toward the poised sheriff, a pie sailed straight over Chronicle's head and right for Thunderhooves.

"NOOOOOO!", he heard the Chief cry out before face and crust met at the exact same point in space. The velocity of the pie changed the buffalo's trajectory as he tumbled to the dirt in front of Silverstar's bale and kicked up a huge cloud of dust. Chronicle had already reached the point where he would've shielded Silverstar, so the change in direction resulted in him evading the Chief's fall.

Chronicle turned around to see Thunderhooves lying senseless on his belly, ringed by Silverstar, his friends, and a number of pony and buffalo spectators. Other herd members raced up and stared in total shock at the downfall of their leader, whose tongue hung out of his mouth at full length as crust and filling dribbled down his face.

One buffalo began to sob and put a foreleg across Carrot's shoulders, who removed her hat and bowed her head. Even Spike couldn't hold his emotions in check as he burst into tears and grabbed a properly puzzled Twilight for support. Chronicle shared his charge's feelings; the Appleloosans and their allies were taking down buffaloes without batting an eyelash, but when the Chief went down, everypony stopped and had guilt trips, even though he most likely wasn't dead. _Why only now?_

Just then, he noticed a juicy crumb slide from the Chief's horn and land on his tongue…and he pulled it in and shut his mouth. He and his friends stared in puzzlement. Two seconds later, he stood up, alive and well, and slurped as much of the mess off his face as he can while shaking himself clean.

"Yum!", he said as Chronicle and his friends smiled. "Hey! I've got a **much** better idea!"

C—TS—S—RD—R—F—PP—LS—B—SS—CT

Hours later…

At the orchard, Chronicle watched as a stand of apple trees were being cut down, making a broad path through the grove. He turned to see Applejack, who made a loud whistle. Seven seconds later, he saw Rainbow leading the buffalo herd along the newly cleared avenue. Steam wafted along it toward them. He looked back at what Chief Thunderhooves had declared.

"We will allow the apple orchard to stay in exchange for a share of its fruit, those delicious apple pies!"

He continued watching, as saw that as each buffalo passed by, ponies passed the pies and tossed them of each buffalo's head as they ran by. Spike, watching them along with him, hoisted a fresh bowl of turquoise.

"I'd rather eat turquoise any day of the week.", he said.

As the dragon did so, Chronicle couldn't help but think that this was what would've been his suggestion; for the settlers to carve a path on their orchard for the buffaloes. The settlers would still be able to gather apples, and the buffaloes would still be able to stampede. In the end, it was all good.

He then walked toward Applejack, who was looking over at Bloomberg in the distance and had Rainbow Dash standing next to her.

"Bloomberg, this is your special day.", the farmpony said. "Mama's so proud of you."

Not far away stood the Chief, Strongheart, Sheriff Silverstar, and Braeburn. The two pairs bowed to each other, and the big and little buffalo charged off to join the orderly stampede. Strongheart peeled off to wave to Applejack and Rainbow as his charge joined him to watch them go off together.

C—TS—S—RD—LS—B—SS—CT—C—TS—S—RD—LS—B—SS—CT

_"Dear Princess Celestia: Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing. Even the worst of enemies can become friends. You need understanding and compromise. You've got to share. You've got to care."_

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

"Hey! That's what I said!", Pinkie said out of nowhere, now out of her saloon girl outfit, as she held back something not visible to anybody.

She was then suddenly pulled back to the ground…by Chronicle, who looked rather irritated. "Pinkie Pie. I need to have a word with you.", he said.

"Sure.", she replied in a cheery tone.

"While I still don't know how you do those things, my organization has a term for your kind, where you somehow violate the rules of physics, like staying in mid-air for a couple of seconds, or making a hole shaped like you down to the hair, things like that."

"You do?"

"Yes. And do you know what the fourth wall is?"

"Uh-huh.", she answered, still cheery.

"Well, I got one thing to ask of you." Chronicle them pulled Pinkie closer and gave her a harsh glare, not knowing if it would even work, given she didn't cringe from one by Gilda, and the griffin seemed to be better at it that him. "Do **not** break it. I **will** know if you do."

"So you're not just a bodyguard, huh? You're also—"

Chronicle backed away a bit to put a hoof to her mouth. "Whatever it is you know about me and my organization, keep it to yourself. And out of our clients'."

"You mean the watc—"

"Yes."

"And the rea—"

"Yes!"

"And the auth—"

The bodyguard then went ballistic. "**Especially him!**" For some reason, this one managed to scare her as she stopped talking. "Do we have a deal?" Pinkie nodded nervously and Chronicle calmed down and gave a sincere smile. "Good. And to make sure, I'm gonna have to have you promise it in one of your signature promises. Okay?"

"Okay." (2)

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Yes, this Surveillance thing I decided to bring up. Yet a little more info on the Story Crew. why I cut off from that part is because I don't know what to type next on how they eventually came to understand.  
(2) As for the last part, it a start of a small running gag in this fanfic of mine. Pinkie does something that will compromise the precious yet badly battered fourth wall, and Chronicle will keep her in line.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	11. Chapter 4: Applebuck Season

nightelf37: From what I realized, this chapter's less of a rewrite of the episode and more of a "WCDDtEo" scenario.

Pinkie Pie: "What does 'WCDDtEo' mean?"

nightelf37: An acronym I made to mean "What Chronicle Did During the Events of" scenario. The chapter' less on the episode's event and more on what he was doing during them.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity, Blue Diary (the latter two not appearing this chapter), and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**(WCDDtEo) Chapter 4: Applebuck Season**

One afternoon…

Chronicle was teaching a class alongside Mystic Shield in Self-Defense Academy for Unicorns, which he often called a dojo, even though it also has rooms a house would have. He hadn't been there to see the new students arrive since at that time he and his friends were at Appleloosa. Now, he could see who the new ones were. Some were the ones from Canterlot; Twinkle, Lemon Hearts, Amethyst Star (who wore a fancy saddle of some kind and a flower in her hair for some reason), and Minuette. There was also Sea Swirl, a pale pink unicorn with blue hair of two shades rose-colored eyes, and a cutie mark consisting of two dolphins. Dinky was there too, watching her sister Amethyst as she stood with the 'class'.

He looked back at what had happened earlier in the day…

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_"All right, students.", Mystic said as he paced about, his stare blank, looking at his class as they were positioned in columns of four, his first four being in front. "My name is Mystic Shield, but while we're inside this dojo, you shall address me as Master, or Master Shield."_

Chronicle, who was standing near the wall behind Mystic at that time, took a good look at the ones he hadn't recognized yet as the teacher gave the orientation. One was a stallion with a brownish-yellow coat, blue eyes, purplish-blue hair, and a comet/blue star with tail as his cutie mark. Recalling his name from the attendance sheet, Chronicle remembered his name to be Comet Tail.

Mystic continued his speech. "…now, I'm sure some of you may have…unsavory thoughts about…" But Chronicle hadn't paid attention.

Another unfamiliar face was a mare with a gala pink coat, freckles, purple eyes, hair colored in yellow-blue-purple, and a strawberry cutie mark. Her name was Holly Dash, and she was the only pony he knew who had more than two colors in her hair, aside from Princess Celestia who had four, and Rainbow Dash who had six.

Another mare he didn't identify had a dark green coat, yellow-orange mane, and a fireball cutie mark. Her name was Firecracker Burst, and he had noticed that she was fidgeting on occasion and that Minuette wasn't pleased from having to stand next to her.

"I'll admit that there are only two spells I can teach you right now, so if you know of a spell that can also help in self-defense or are otherwise useful in a fight, I'll be very grateful for it if you share it with us. And…"

The second stallion aside from the first four had a grayish-purple coat, purple eyes, dark goldenrod wavy hair with yellow patches, and a yellow six-pronged star (shaped like Twilight Sparkle's) with four five-pronged stars surrounding it as his cutie mark. His name was Ponet.

The third stallion had a light gray coat, sea green eyes, dark magenta hair, and a scroll cutie mark. His name was Written Script.

"Now that that's over with, I shall begin."

E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K

Back in the present…

"All right, class.", Mystic said. "What did we learn today?" _Gosh, I sound like a schoolteacher._

"The first spell is the barrier.", said Twinkle. "There are two basic variants. First is the dome shape." She demonstrated by flaring her horn and a spherical barrier formed around herself and stopped at the floor. She dismissed it a second later.

"Very good, Twinkle. What the second?"

"Second is the panel shape.", Ponet answered, then demonstrated it by conjuring a wall of magic in front of himself. He then dismissed it after a while.

"That's right, Ponet."

"Chrono Cards, Minuette, Amethyst Star, Comet Tail, stay where you are. The rest of you, move outside the mat." Everypony did as he said, leaving the two mares and two stallions in the tatami mat. "Can any of you remember what else is necessary in the spell?"

"Like with all spells, you have to focus on creating the barrier.", Minuette said. "It takes a small amount energy to maintain a basic barrier depending on its size, but it takes concentration to make it withstand a hit."

Mystic nodded. "Spot on, Minuette. Now the four of you make your barriers." The four in the mat did as he instructed, their horns glowing. Chrono's and Comet's barriers were blue domes, Minuette's was a wall of the same color, and Amethyst's was a violet-red dome. Mystic turned to his co-teacher. "Now, Chronicle, test them if you will."

The blue stallion nodded as he approached the four students. "Each shots will have the same power exerted into them.", he said, then flared his horn and he then fired a shuriken-shaped shot from it, heading right for Chrono's barrier. The shot hit, and the barrier held, its conjurer wincing. Chronicle proceeded with Minuette next and the shot hit, making her wince as a small crack in her barrier formed. Amethyst was next, and she grit her teeth hard as the barrier took the shot and held completely. As for Comet, the barrier shattered, and he seemed to be distracted.

Mystic put up a hoof as a signal to stop and began to evaluate. "Chrono, you've done well. Minuette, you've improved, although you still need a bit more focus. Amethyst, I think you put a little too much on that barrier. Comet, remember to concentrate. The purpose of a barrier is to defend against attacks. Otherwise, it's as good as nothing. Except for keeping out smoke or anything bad in the air."

All of a sudden, there was a tremor that shook the place, startling everypony. "I'll have a look.", Chronicle volunteered as he summoned a magical clone, which made his way out of the dojo, Dinky opening the door for him. For some reason, Amethyst and Lemon exited as well.

As the clone exited the dojo, he saw Rainbow Dash rising to roof level to look at something ahead. After a few seconds, he received an answer as to what was going on.

"STAMPEDE!", his friend cried out. Immediately, there was general pandemonium in town as ponies galloped everywhere, shutters were closed, and a welcome mat was yanked inside a house whose front door was then slammed shut.

Amidst the chaos, Pinkie Pie stood as still as she can, letting the tremors bounce her along. "He-e-ey!", she giggled, her voice vibrating. "Thi-i-is ma-a-akes my-y-y voi-i-ice sou-u-und si-i-illy!" Chronicle also managed to see Heartstrings running among the townsponies, still wearing the magenta contact lenses from before.

He also saw his charge Twilight Sparkle on the streets as well. "Pinkie Pie, are you crazy? Run!" At that moment, one of the townsponies bumped into him, and he dissipated.

Back in the dojo, the real Chronicle received his clone's memories and rubbed his head as Mystic ordered his students to stay indoors.

"What's going on outside?", Mystic asked him.

"Stampede. Not sure of what."

"In any case, if there's anything we can do about it…" He turned to his first four students. "Greatstone, Bullseye, Tricky Books, Chrono Cards, with me." The four mentioned stood in attention as he then turned to his co-teacher. "Chronicle, lead the way."

Immediately, the bodyguard led the five unicorns outside. They saw the mayor, whom he remembered was also addressed as Mayor Mare, holding her ground in spite of what's happening. "Everypony calm down!", she instructed to no avail. "There is no need to panic!"

Rarity then came up. "But, Mayor, whatever shall we do?"

Just then, Rainbow, still hovering overhead, pointed off to one side. "Look there!"

The six unicorn stallions went over to where they guessed the stampede was coming from. As they reached the edge of town, they could see the cloud of dust that confirmed their position. Bullseye cast a spell on Mystic, whose eyes then emitted a faint amber glow.

"What's this?", Mystic asked.

"An enhance vision spell.", answered Bullseye. "While my eyes are keen, that spell renders your more so and gives them a magical zoom when you focus."

"Why didn't you cast in on yourself?", Chronicle asked as Mystic focused his eyes.

"As if. I'd be crazy or desperate if I were to do that."

"Is there a problem with casting spells on oneself?"

"The stampede consists of cattle!", Mystic reported, cutting them off. "And they're indeed headed this way. Hold on! I see Applejack!" There were words of relief from the crowd, the rest of his friends among them, that had gathered around the stallions. "She's charging up next to them! And I see a small brown-and-white…" Mystic gulped nervously, beads of sweat trailing down his head as the spell on him expired.

"What is it?", Chronicle asked, deciding to leave his debate with Bullseye for later. "Let me see."

The eyepatch-wearing unicorn cast the enhance vision spell on Chronicle, who looked closer. With the farmpony was a border collie. Now he could see why Mystic was nervous. He just saw a dog, and he was scared at the sight of them. He could see Applejack deliver a command and the dog, whose name he recalled was Winona, barked in acknowledgment and dropped back out of sight.

A few seconds later, Winona pulled into view on the opposite side. The spell then expired as Chronicle turned to his friends and Mystic's students. "Looks like Applejack's gonna steer the herd!", he called. He then turned to see Rarity turn her head with a scared moan, and Pinkie with a bag of popcorn and watching with great interest.

"This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen!", the pink earth pony said as she buried her face in the snack, Chronicle's charge turning away from her with a look of puzzled exasperation.

"We better make it safe just in case.", Mystic directed his students. "Form a wall before that bridge." He pointed to one over the stream bordering Ponyville, which the stampede was headed for. The five of them flared their horns and a wall of magic was formed, colored in Mystic's green aura as he was the initiator. This wall then expanded further past the railings of the bridge. When Chronicle then saw Twilight look interested and join in the casting, he decided to follow suit, mentally reminding himself he should've done it earlier.

Meanwhile, thanks to lessons from Mystic Shield, Bullseye cast his enhance vision spell on Tricky and told him to tell everypony what was happening.

"Okay.", the young unicorn said. "I see…" He paused to recall the name. "…Applejack nudging the cow next to her. …She's giving a whistle. …Her dog's leaping on the cows' backs. …She's now ahead of who's apparently the lead cow. Applejack's got her lasso ready." Then in a lower tone. "Where'd she get it from?" Back to his usual tone. "The lasso is around the lead cow's neck. She's now right next and is pulling. The dog's barking at the lead cow. They're approaching the barrier." Tricky panicked as he blinked rapidly, losing the effects of Bullseye's spell.

The cattle were now so close that the spell was no longer necessary. Just then, the lead cow turned just short of the bridge to run parallel to the stream, with the rest of the herd following. One cow bumped into the barrier, but that was it.

"Yee-haa!", Applejack could be heard yelling out.

After a brief, tense silence, the onlookers cheered her success, with Pinkie waving an apple-decorated pennant for good measure. Mystic and his students (as well as Twilight and her bodyguard) dismissed the barrier and gave sighs of relief.

"I'll have to say that was a close call.", Chrono commented.

"We turned out to be unnecessary.", said Greatstone.

"But best to be prepared regardless.", put in Tricky. "Better to have and not need than to need and not have."

"True."

"Oh wait a second, Bullseye.", Chronicle said, remembering something. "Where were we?"

"At the part where I was telling you that casting spells on yourself is impossible and dangerous."

"You weren't there, but fine. Tell me why is that the case?"

"Allow me to explain.", Tricky cut in as he 'summoned' a book that looked like his cutie mark. "You see, mature unicorns can cast magic on other objects and other living creatures without a problem. But in time, their bodies grow some sort of intolerance to their own brand of magic. It's like your own magic is like a disease to yourself. As far as I know, teleporting is the only spell unicorns can perform without succumbing to magic sickness because of its mild nature. If one were to cast more advanced and concentrated spells on themselves, they would contract a disease called 'Magic Sickness'." (1)

Chronicle let this sink in for a few seconds. "Really? I never experienced that."

"What spells have you cast on yourself?", asked Bullseye.

"Let's see…speed enhancement, strength enhancement, jumping enhancement, water-walking, cloud-walking, and this." Chronicle demonstrated his "magic horn blade" for a few seconds before 'sheathing' it. "Technically, I could use this spell things like a stick or a broken sword, but I'm more comfortable with using my horn."

Bullseye seemed to be shocked. "I don't know about that 'horn blade' of yours, but all those other spells fall under the advanced category that should've made you sick."

"But I'm not. I wonder why?" _I wonder if it's because I'm not born a unicorn?_

"Perhaps there are some who are immune to this sickness, or there is a way to alleviate it for a while.", suggested Tricky.

The conversation was ended when the crowd saw Applejack's silhouette emerge over a hill in full view, framed by the setting sun. Cheers erupted as she lifted one foreleg, then reared up as Winona joined her, making Mystic feel nervous.

"Yee-haa!", they heard the farmpony say as she and her dog then raced out of sight.

Pinkie jumped out of crowd, bucking around as she said, "Yee-haa! Ride 'em, cowpony!"

The Mayor turned to Twilight and Rarity. "Applejack was just…just…"

Pinkie poked her head from above them. Somehow. "Apple-tastic!", she answered as she then thud to the ground.

"Exactly! We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town."

Pinkie got up to give an answer. "I know!"

C—TS—A—RD—R—PP—MM—MS—G–TB–B–CC

The next week…

"A party!"

A celebration was being set up in the town square and pavilion, complete with balloons and and banners.

As Chronicle looked around, he could see Bon Bon tying a ribbon on a bridge alongside Twinkle, Cloud Kicker looking at an orange ribbon Golden Harvest had set up, Minuette dragging a yellow banner with an apple pattern similar to Pinkie's pennant, Berry Punch trotting over to assist her, Daisy looking awed at the results, Rarity adjusting tying a red ribbon to a tree, and Twilight—with Spike on her back—walking up to Rarity her.

"We all ready?", he heard his charge ask the white unicorn.

"Just one last thing." Rarity levitated the banner Minuette and Berry were moving earlier and hung it from the third-floor balcony. "Now we're ready."

"Is Applejack all set?"

Rainbow flew over and provided and answer as Chronicle approached them. "Actually, I haven't seen her all week."

He was shortly followed by Pinkie. "Not since the stampede."

"But she'll be here for sure. Applejack is never late."

"Well, there's always a first for everything.", said Chronicle.

C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP

Later…

A large crowd had gathered at the pavilion, where a lectern was set up in front of the doors. Twilight stepped up to this and levitated a stack of notes, squaring up their edges and bringing the first page up. "Welcome, everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small." She 'brought up' the next page. A pony whose contributions to—"

Rainbow barged in, knocking the notes everywhere and forcing Twilight to step aside, much to her annoyance. "Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week, she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be **so awesome**!" At those last words, the pegasus made a face Chronicle—who stood in front with his friends, Mystic Shield included—was going to commit to memory. And thanks to his Surveillance, he would be able to look back at it whenever he wanted.

Twilight shoved the pegasus back and continued, "Exactly." She then 'lifted' her notes again. "And—" She was cut off once more, this time by Pinkie, who popped up in front of her. Again, the notes fell.

"This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!", the pink earth pony announced.

"What does that have to do with Applejack?"

There was a brief pause from Pinkie. "Oh! Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!" There were cheers from the audience.

Twilight dryly pushed her aside. "Okay, that's great." The notes were up again, but scrambled. "Now if I could just make a point without being inter—" For the third time, she was cut off. This time, it was from Fluttershy, who poked her head up, something Chronicle didn't expect from her for some reason.

"Twilight?"

"—rupted!" The notes fell and the purple unicorn moved aside as Fluttershy stepped up.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season." On the latter part of this, Twilight rolled her eyes wearily at all these breaks in her train of thought. "She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills." There was a short pause, and before long, Fluttershy cringed and slid away.

"Anyone else?", Twilight called. "…Anyone?" There was no response except for a quiet cough. "No?" She briought her notes up yet again. "Well, then, as I was trying to say—" She paused upon realizing that the mayor was now standing next to her with an expectant grin. After a very long beat, Twilight gave up with a groan and let her notes go flying in all directions, which Chronicle promptly 'collected'. "Never mind!"

As Twilight stalked away, the mayor took her place, cleared her throat, and gestured to something on the far left (her right). "And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the "Prize Pony of Ponyville" Award to our beloved guest of honor…" Chronicle turned to see where she was indicating and saw a large trophy decorated with a blue ribbon. It was gold and shaped like a two-handled oil lamp, supported by three pillars, and topped by a rearing filly. "…a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity…Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend…" The mayor then gestured to her left (the audience's right) "…Applejack!"

At the right side of the pavilion, a curtain was pulled open, exposing…absolutely nothing. Cheers quickly give way to gasps and silence, with the exception of Spike.

"Way to go, Applejack, that was awesome! I mean…" The baby dragon fell quiet upon finding himself on the wrong end of quizzical glances from his friends and an angry one from Twilight. The mayor, at a total loss, cleared her throat. "Awkward."

"You tell me.", agreed Mystic.

"I'm here!", Applejack's voice was heard. A blond mane, brown stetson, part of an orange-tan head, and a pile of apples made their way through the crowd. "I'm here!" She then gave off a yawn as apples fell loose, leaving fruit in her wake as some ponies reacted with shock as she passed. "Sorry I'm late, whoa…I was just…" She was then heard stumbling over something. "Did I get your tail?"

Finally reaching the lectern, she thrust her face into the mayor's, with two full apple baskets slung on her back. The bags developing under her eyes betrayed the fact that she had been hard at work and it had cut deeply into her sleep time. _But what's so important today that she'd eschew rest for who knows how many days?_ Chronicle wondered.

Meanwhile, Applejack pushed the mayor aside. "Miss Mayor, hank you kindly for this here, uh, award thingie." She stepped over to look at it and yawned. "It's so bright and shiny, and…" She then gave a drowsy yawn. "I sure do look funny." She then began pushing her head forward and pulling it back and forth, making high-pitched "whoo-ooo" noises. Pinkie joined her after a moment while Twilight made her way up as well, looking truly confused as she stood on the other side of the trophy.

"Oo-kay…well, thank you, Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony.", the purple unicorn finally said.

Applejack gave another yawn. "Yeah, I like helpin' the pony folks and…and stuff." She dozed off and begins to snore. A moment later, she shook herself awake. "Oh, uh…yeah, uh, thanks!" Gripping one of the trophy's handles in her teeth, she dragged it backward off the stage and through the crowd.

Once she was gone, Twilight was the first to speak. "Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little—"

"Tired?", Rainbow finished.

"Dizzy?" Fluttershy.

"Fatigued?" Mystic.

"Messy?" Rarity. This earned her puzzled looks from the others. "Well, did you see her mane?"

Pinkie jumped onto the stage. "She seemed fine to me. Whoo-ooo!"

"Given how you are, of course you wold think she's fine.", snarked Chronicle as he saw his charge make a thoughtful face.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MM—MS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type)- Applejack doing the "Whoo-ooo" swing with Pinkie Pie on stage with the trophy. The show's logo is seen on the lower right.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MM—MS

Later…

Twilight Sparkle and Chronicle, the latter not having to go to Mystic's dojo as he wasn't conducting classes until later, decided to visit Applejack to see how she was doing. From what they saw, a short distance away, she was filling tubs with apples by bucking the trees bearing them. They could also see that, if anything, she was even more tired than she was at the award ceremony.

"Phew!", they heard her say as her head then drooped for a moment before she shook herself out of it and squinted behind herself, rearing up for another go. This time, she was too far away from a tree and hit nothing but air—and the tree had already been cleaned off to boot.

"What on earth is that pony doing?", Twilight asked herself.

Applejack repositioned herself and tried again, but kicked over an apple tub instead of hitting the tree. "Whoops."

"Hey, Applejack!", the two unicorns called. "Applejack!" The harvester paid no mind to either of them as Chronicle walked over to the upended tub and 'refilled' it with the dropped apples. "Applejack!"

After still no reply, Twilight fires up her horn and teleported over to stand right in front of Applejack while her bodyguard just walked over.

"APPLEJACK!", his charge yelled and the farmpony woke up with a start.

"Howdy, Twilight.", she greeted, not noticing Chronicle behind her.

"What is all this?"

Applejack just walked past as she replied, "It's applebuck season." Twilight teleported over to her as she bucked another tree while Chronicle just walked again. "Whoa."

"Apple-what season?"

Applejack kept moving. "It's what the Apple family calls harvestin' time." Another teleport from Twilight and another walk-over from her bodyguard. "We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell 'em."

"Oh right.", Chronicle spoke up. "I remember one of your cousins in Appleloosa tell me about this before we returned to Ponyville."

"Ahh! Chronicle! I didn't see you there!"

"If you weren't so fatigued, you would've heard me walking over."

"But why are you doing it all alone?", Twilight asked Applejack.

"'Cause Big Macintosh hurt himself." Another teleport and walk-over and she stopped.

"What about all those relatives I met when I first came to Ponyville? Can't they help?"

Applejack gave a sigh before moving again. "They were just here for the Apple family reunion. They actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvestin' their own orchards. So, uh, I'm on my own." Yet another teleport and walk-over and this time his charge was blocking the farmpony's path. "Which means I should really get back to work." Her two unicorn friend held their ground, leaving them and Applejack to stare each other down for a moment. Applejack cleared her throat. "Hint, hint? Get back to work?"

"Fine.", the two conceded as they walked off.

Applejack began to sway from side to side. "Could you step aside, Twilight, Chronicle?"

"We just did.", said the stallion, noticing that her vision seemed to be off. From what he could tell from her face, Applejack wasn't sensing the world clearly. "Applejack, you don't look too good."

"Don't none of you five worry none, I'm just fine and dandy." The tried to buck another tree but failed. "Whoa!" There was another teleport and walk-over.

"Do you…want some help?", Twilight offered.

"Help?" Applejack shook her head emphatically. "No way, no how!"

"But there's no way you can do it all on your own." Applejack got in her face.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Um…no."

Applejack turned to Chronicle for an answer. "Does is have to be?", he asked.

"Well, I'm gonna prove to you that I can do it!" Applejack walked up past the two once again. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got apples to buck."

The two who have actually got a good night's sleep bit their lower lip nervously and looked after her. After a while, Chronicle turned to his charge, "May I—"

"No." She immediately cut him off and he gave a sigh.

C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A

The next day, at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy for Unicorns…

Chronicle went to the dojo to teach alongside Mystic Shield. A number of their class was absent since they had to tend to their work, but a few who weren't in last week's class were here now.

"Heartstrings, Lemon Hearts, Ponet, Greatstone.", Mystic said. "Let's test your skill in the barrier spell." The four ponies stood in a line while the rest stood outside the tatami mat. He turned to his co-teacher, who caught his drift and positioned himself in front of the four, flaring his horn for a shot.

His targets' horns glowed and their barriers were set up. Lyra's was a gold dome, Lemon's was a light green dome, Ponet's was a purple wall, and Greatstone's was a blue wall. Chronicle fired his shots at the four and saw the results. For Greatstone, the shot did no effect on either him or the barrier. For Ponet, the barrier cracked and he visibly winced. For Lemon, the barrier held, but she seemed to react in great pain. And for Lyra, there was a massive crack and she seemed to react similarly.

"Greatstone, marvelous.", Mystic evaluated. "Ponet, good job. Lemon, you need more practice. Heartstrings, you have to concentrate more. The more focus you put on it, the lesser aching you will feel." Lyra looked down and depressed at this, as if dejected. Mystic noticed and walked over to her. "You know, there's another way to maintain a strong barrier."

"There is?", Lyra asked as Mystic raised her head with a hoof.

"Uh-huh. If simple concentration won't do it, there's this method. I call it conviction. Think of somepony you really care about, then when you cast the barrier, if you really care for them, make yourself determined to stay safe for and protect them."

Lyra seemed to lighten up. "I think I can do that."

"However, that's more of a desperation move. You should at least master the form first. And keep practicing. Still, a conviction to protect helps in keeping a barrier up." Mystic stood up, then walked back to his place. "Now. Let's proceed with the shot spell. You've seen Chronicle do it, right? Now everypony on the mat." All the unicorns did as he said., even— "Dinky? You too?"

The unicorn filly just nodded. "Uh-huh."

"I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I'm not against training children, but what would your mother say?"

"Don't worry.", said Amethyst Star. "I'll explain it to her."

"Very well. I guess it can't hurt. Just remember that you're not supposed to use this to intentionally harm anypony."

"Don't worry.", chirped Dinky. "I'm a responsible filly!"

"Okay." Mystic got back to attention. "Now. For the shot spell, remember to focus and aim." He then conjured a red-and-white dartboard target on the wall behind him, then two more so that everypony has space. "Remember that there has to be a balance of power and charge time. Too weak and you might as well be swinging a feather. Too strong and it may be too dangerous. Same thing if you charge it too fast. Charge it too slow and whatever you're trying to hit might either be gone or on to you. Now, we shall test your accuracy. One by one, you must try and shoot a target, and remember to aim for the center."

Mystic stepped aside, allowing for his students to do as he instructed.

Bullseye was first as he charged his horn for a half-second before releasing a slim beam that hit a target in the center. "Nice job living up to your name, Bullseye."

Lemon Hearts was the second to try, charging up a shot—and releasing an arrow-shaped blast, which hit a ring just outside the center. "Okay. That's quite good."

Written Script followed, charging for a second and a half before releasing a quill-shaped shot (the type used as a writing tool, not the ones in porcupines or hedgehogs) that hit a target. "Interesting. You're getting better."

Twinkle was next, and her horn flared pink for two seconds before her shot came out—in the form of a comet that arced upward before going down landing on a target. "…Okay. Let's try it again." And Twinkle shot again. This time, she shot went straight for a while before arcing upwards to hit the ceiling. Luckily, the shot was too weak to do any damage.

"I'm sorry.", Twinkle squeaked.

"It's all right.", Mystic replied. "I was caught off guard too. I think you'll have to stay a bit later so we figure out why your shot curved. Next."

Firecracker Burst was next as her horn glowed blue and she instantly shot a small fireball at a target, hitting it…and setting it ablaze.

Minuette immediately charged her shot and released a short beam that hit the flames…and left a small splotch of ice where it hit. "Interesting.", Mystic commented. "Firecracker, your aim could use a little more work on control. Minuette, nice job on putting her flames out. Both your spells are useful."

Comet Tail was next and he fired a comet similar to Twinkle's, but it did not curve as it hit near the edge of a target, but not missing. "You could use some more work, Comet."

Tricky and Chrono shot their blasts, which were shaped like a page and a playing card respectively. Both of them managed to hit

Lyra followed, charging her shot for a second before releasing a musical note-shaped shot that spun as it hit the target. "You're improving, Heartstrings."

Dinky was next as she charged up her horn and fired a shot, which was shaped like a small bubble, and it hit the center on one target. She did it again on the other targets, and each shot struck home. "Wow. Wonderful accuracy, Dinky."

Greatstone's shot was shaped like a rock…and it missed entirely. "Good try, Greatstone."

Sea Swirl charged her horn in a pink aura for three seconds before unleashing a medium-sized shot shaped like a dolphin, which hit a target spot on. "Sea Swirl, while that was a pretty impressive shot, we're focusing on accuracy, not power. Luckily for you, we're testing that next."

Mystic Shield walked so that he was now between the targets and his students. "Now, I want you to strike me." The ponies seemed hesitant. Mystic then 'put up' his barrier. "I meant this barrier, so I can evaluate. You don't have to worry about hurting me. Given your current progress, you won't be able to do much to me."

After positioning himself, Sea Swirl decided to go first as she fired her dolphin-shaped shot once again. It hit the barrier, and he visibly winced. "That was a powerful shot."

Greatstone 'hurled' his shot at Mystic, which dissipated upon contact with the barrier. "You got some power there, Greatstone."

Dinky was next as her shots hit the barrier, although Mystic didn't seem to be affected at the slightest. "That's quite powerful for one your age. Don't worry about it."

Lyra. "Conviction also helps in power. You're doing well."

Comet. "You need to exert a little more power"

Chrono. "Nice job."

Tricky. "Doing good."

Firecracker. This time, she fired hot stream blaze, which failed to penetrate the barrier, but it singed the ground around it. "That's quite powerful, although more control may still be required."

Minuette. "Not as powerful as I hoped. You still did well."

Twinkle. "You packed quite a bit there."

Written. "You remember when I said, 'Too weak and you might as well be swinging a feather'? That's what it felt like. Just concentrate some more."

Lemon. "Optimal. Nice work."

Just before Bullseye could get his turn, something crashed through the dojo's roof, landed right on Mystic, and kicked up some dust from the splinters of wood. When the dust cleared, it turns out that Rainbow Dash had crashed right on top of Mystic's barrier, which was now cracking. It shattered shortly after and the pegasus landed on the unicorn's back.

"Umm…Can I help you?", Mystic asked as he got Rainbow off of him.

The pegasus turned to Chronicle and said weakly, "I think somepony else needs your help, Chronicle."

"Applejack?", the bodyguard guessed.

"Yep." She passed out right after.

Chronicle turned to Mystic, who seemed to know what he was about to say. "It's okay. Go. I can't have any more ponies breaking through the dojo. First the door, now the roof."

Lemon Hearts came over shortly and her horn glowed light green. A stick-on bandage colored in the same aura appeared out of nowhere and onto a medium cut Rainbow had received while she crashed through the roof. "It's a magical bandage spell.", she then explained to Mystic. "It covers a wound until it's fully healed."

"Useful spell there, Lemon Hearts."

After hearing that, Chronicle made his way out of the dojo and straight to Books and Branches Library. He looked up at the lower balcony, where he saw Twilight Sparkle was reading a book.

"Twilight!", he called, catching her attention as she walked over to the edge and look down.

"Yes, Chronicle?"

"We need to talk to Applejack again. Rainbow Dash just crashed through the roof of Mystic Shield's dojo just a minute ago."

His charge gave a sigh as she exited the balcony and soon joined him.

C—TS—T—M—LH—AS—LH—SS—RD—D—MS–G–TB–B–CC—CT—FB—P—WS

Later, at Sweet Apple Acres…

As the two unicorns walked over to see Applejack, who was bucking another apple tree, full apple baskets slung on her back. She then ducked down to grab a fallen apple by its stem in her teeth, only yo bangs her head on a low branch as she straightened up. The hit sets her entire skull vibrating before her two friends approached within normal hearing range.

"Applejack, can we talk?", Twilight asked.

Applejack scratched at an ear, trying to clear it. As Twilight repeated herself, Chronicle could tell that that concussion compounded with her lack of sleep has dulled her hearing.

"CAN BEES SQUAWK?", the farmpony replied. "I DON'T THINK SO!"

His charge tried again. "No. Can we talk?"

"TWENTY STALKS? BEAN OR CELERY?"

"NO! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"YOU NEED TO WALK TO THE ZOO? WELL, WHO'S STOPPIN' YOU?"

"I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"What?! Zoo?!", Chronicle gasped to himself in panic. _What's would be in a zoo in a world of sentient ponies, griffons, buffaloes, and zebras?!_

"OH!", Applejack said meanwhile. "WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO? WHAT YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT? "

"RAINBOW DASH DROPPED IN TO SEE CHRONICLE TODAY!", Twilight shouted back.

"THAT'S QUITE NEIGHBORLY OF HER!"

"YES, EXCEPT THAT SHE CRASHED ONTO MYSTIC SHIELD'S PLACE AFTER YOU LAUNCHED HER INTO THE AIR!"

"WHILE HE WAS TEACHING IN CLASS!", Chronicle pitched in.

There was a moment of silence before Applejack spoke up again, this time without shouting.

"Oh…yeah." She then dropped her head. "I wasn't feelin' quite myself this mornin'."

"Because you're working too hard and you need help!", Twilight told her.

"What? Kelp? I don't need kelp. I don't even like seaweed."

"HELP! YOU NEED HELP!"

"Nothin' doin', Twilight. I'm gonna prove to you, to everypony, that I can do this on my own!"

"What's more important to you, Applejack?!", Chronicle asked her. "The harvest, or your pride?"

Applejack ignored him as she walked away…and clunked her head on the same branch. This hit knocked her eyes out of focus. "Ow! Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go help Pinkie Pie!" She then stumbled away, nearly dumping her freight of fruit and leaving Twilight to groan wearily to herself.

Chronicle then turned to face his charge. "May I—"

"No."

"It won't hurt her. Much."

"Violence is not the answer."

"Oh, come on! I'll eve start out weak."

Twilight was resolute at refusing her bodyguard whatever he was asking. "No."

Chronicle grumbled at this. "Fine. But strike three, and I'm doin' it whether you like it or not."

C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A

Later afternoon, at Mystic Shield's dojo…

"And that's how you do the bandage spell." Lemon Hearts was finished explaining to Mystic Shield how her spell worked.

"I see."

Rainbow Dash had since healed and exited through the hole she made in the roof. Chronicle returned for another day of teaching alongside Mystic. Lemon Hearts had to leave though, as she had work to do, of which Chronicle hadn't bothered to ask.

Today, they were going to have duels; one pony would face another and they would practice their shot spell and barrier spell. The pairings were as follows; Bullseye and Greatstone, Firecracker Burst and Comet Tail, and Ponet and Written Script. Dinky was practicing the shot spell with her spar partner Mystic Shield since he was doubtful that the others would go too easy or not easy enough.

As for Chronicle, he was facing another student who had recently enrolled. The student was a stallion with a slate blue coat, dull gold eyes, white wavy hair with light blue patches, and a safety pin cutie mark. Of course, he was a unicorn like everyone else in the dojo.

"Are you ready, Pokey Pierce?", Chronicle asked as he flared his horn.

"Ready when you are.", the white-haired unicorn replied as he did the same, his horn glowing amber.

The carrot-top-blond one started to fire his shuriken-shaped shots while Pokey set up his panel-shaped barrier, which held as he winced. The two blue unicorns then switched roles. Chronicle set up a barrier while Pokey fired his shots. However, these ones proved to be different in comparison to all the other shots. Instead of dissipating immediately upon impact to deal damage to the barrier, Pokey's shots stayed for a while before disappearing. And upon closer inspection, he could see that they were even spinning…and making cracks at his shield.

Pokey stopped shortly after and asked, "Is there something amiss?"

"I noticed your shots were different from the others."

"How so?"

"Well, not only did they stay hitting the barrier for longer, they also actually began to crack my shield."

"Wow. Are my shots that powerful?"

"No. Regardless of my concentration, the cracks were constant."

"Pokey Pierce. Chronicle.", Mystic called. "Continue sparring."

"Yes, Master Shield.", they both said as they continued.

C—LH—MS—PP—C—LH—MS—PP—C—LH—MS—PP

Half an hour later…

"Wow, you're doing pretty well, Dinky."

Dinky was still practicing with Mystic as he began testing her barrier spell by throwing pebbles. He wasn't going to use his own shot spell for this, especially given what Amethyst Star said concerning their mother…

"Thank you, Master Shield.", Dinky replied with a smile on her face.

"You're doing quite well, if I do say so myself."

Just then, the doors opened as Minuette came in, 'carrying' a bag of treats.

"Minuette.", Firecracker greeted, oblivious to the glare the blue unicorn mare gave shortly after, then resumed smiling.

"Hey, guys. I got muffins I bought from Sugarcube Corner." Nearly everypony else lightened up and gathered around him. Mystic just smacked himself in the face with a hoof. As for Chronicle, he seemed to react badly.

_Uh oh. Sugarcube Corner?_ Chronicle's mind was in overdrive. _They've been baking together. Given Applejack's condition, she would misintepret Pinkie's commands. And with Pinkie Pie being who she is, she won't be paying attention to what's being put in. That means—_ He then realized what that meant and he immediately ran for Minuette's muffin bag.

"DON'T EAT THE MUFFINS!", two voices called out.

Minuette could only stand in confusion as Chronicle sped straight for her. At around the same time, a gray blur headed the same way from outside. The blue-and-white-haired unicorn saw this too, dropped the bag, and got out of the way as the two forces collided, kicking up smoke. When it cleared, Derpy Hooves was on top of Chronicle, who had the muffin bag held in his arcanokinesis field. The scene was too awkward for anyone to say a word. Then Dinky was the first to speak.

"Mom?", she asked.

"My little muffin!", Derpy cried out affectionately and pounced her in a hug.

"Derpy's your mother, Dinky?", Chronicle asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Derpy. You sensed something wrong with the muffins?" As it was, both of them had cried out the warning to not eat them.

"Yup.", Derpy replied. "I was among those who got the free samples." She then approached the muffin bag, reached into it with a wing, and took it out. From what both of them could see, it was thoroughly unappetizing, mud-colored, and an earthworm poked out of one of them. "The ingredients of the muffins are potato chips, soda pop, lemons, and earthworms. There was no baking soda, flour, or wheat germ used in baking these muffins. And those are very important ingredients."

Everypony in the dojo stood there in stunned silence save for Dinky. As it was, Derpy wasn't commonly known for any sort of brilliance. "Wow. Didn't think you could tell what's in a muffin."

"I bake muffins for them whenever I can.", Derpy said with a smile as she brought Dinky into her forelegs and gave a friendly noogie. (2) "I love them so much." Just then, she paused in horror as if realizing she forgot something. "Oh no! Sparkler! She ate one of the muffins!"

"Is big sister okay?!", asked Dinky.

"I hope so. Let's go see her!"

With that, Derpy was off, her daughter in tow. Chronicle turned to Mystic, who sighed and nodded, then he took off after Derpy.

"Hold on! If you took a muffin, how are you not sick?", he asked the wall-eyed pegasus.

"A worm came out of my muffin before I could eat it, so I knew it wasn't safe to!"

C—T—D—DH—MS—FB—C—T—D—DH—MS—FB

Soon…

The three reached a clearing with open air tents, although Chronicle lost track of Derpy, who mysteriously disappeared, presumably in one of the tents. Just then, he caught sight of his charge and Spike in front of another of the tent's curtains. Just as he joined them, the curtain was pulled aside by a somewhat frazzled-looking white earth pony mare. She had light blue eyes, light pink mane and tail with the former gathered in a bun, and a red-cross cutie mark with a small pink heart tucked into each corner. This design was repeated on the white nurse's cap she wore. If he remembered correctly, her name was Nurse Redheart.

"We came as soon as we heard.", his charge said, not noticing that her bodyguard was now with them.

Redheart gave a sigh. "Thank you, Twilight. We need all the help we can get." She then stepped aside to show the victims of what he presumed was the muffins. He saw Sea Swirl, Daisy, Twinkle, Carrot Top, Lemon Hearts, Berry Punch, and Pinkie Pie.

Some of the patients' faces have gone green. And one was vomiting into a bucket, much to Chronicle's horror. Luckily, she didn't seem to have—he shook the thought off, spooked at the idea.

Twilight seemed to have the same thoughts as well. Or perhaps something somewhat less so. "Oh, no! What happened?"

Spike noticed a half-eaten muffin on the floor, picked it up, and was surprised to see a worm poke out of it. "It was a mishap with some of the baked goods.", explained Redheart.

"No…not baked goods…baked bads!", Pinkie corrected, green-faced before throwing up into a bucket.

Twilight recoiled for a moment, then regained her nerve. "Applejack!", she concluded.

"Yup.", agreed Chronicle, then turned to Redheart as he ignored his charge's startled look. "How bad was it?"

"Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it could've been thanks to our resident mailmare Derpy Hooves."

She then stopped as sounds of eager chomping were heard. They turned to see Spike scarfing down the muffin he found and had gathered up an armload. He then offered some to them. "Want one?"

C—TS—S—PP—NR—C—TS—S—PP—NR—C—TS—S—PP—NR

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - The left side of the screen shows Rainbow Dash dizzy on Mystic Shield's back while in the dojo. The right side shows a sick Pinkie Pie in bed at the open-air hospital tent. Chronicle looks to the left and Twilight Sparkle looks to the right as they stand in the center, their bodies crossing the split line. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—TS—S—PP—NR—C—TS—S—PP—NR—C—TS—S—PP—NR

The next day…

Chronicle and Twilight Sparkle walked up to Applejack, who was nodding off without her hat as she hung on the high end of an upturned cart. She apparently was going to back the cart to a tub that rested in a depression between two hillocks, but had fallen asleep, resulting in gravity getting her to this position.

"Applejack.", Chronicle sternly called. "Applejack, we need to talk."

"Wha—? Huh?...Oh. It's you, Twilight, Chronicle." She gave a yawn. "I know what you're gonna say, but the answer is sill no."

"Not to upset your apple cart, but you need help.", Twilight said.

"Har-de-har…" She tried to flip herself down and failed. "…and no, I don't." Again.

"Here. Let me help."

"Help?" And again, but still to no avail. "No, thanks!" The two nonplussed unicorns just watched her attempt to get herself and the cart off. "A little more…little…" Twilight clapped a hoof to her face as Applejack successfully unhooked herself out and was already moving the cart into position onto another tree, ready to buck it. "There. I'll prove that this Apple can handle these apples." She then bucked the tree repeatedly. "Come on, apples…fall off!"

"AJ.", Chronicle called as he looked up. "I think you're beating a dead…tree." Indeed she was; its branches bore no fruit whatsoever and only had a very few leaves. And one of them dropped loose.

"I knew that." The farmpony said as she walked off, the two unicorns following.

"Sure you did.", the bodyguard replied with sarcasm.

"Actually, Applejack, I had something else to talk to you about.", Twilight said. "I just came back from Ponyville Urgent Care and—"

"You know, I'm a little busy to get lectured right now, Twilight.", the farmpony cut her off.

"But if you'd just let me help—"

"Ugh! No, no, no!" The three of them stopped walking. "How many times do I gotta say it?" She then walked off. "I don't need no help from nopony!" However, she was then stopped by Chronicle, who had pulled on her tail for a second to catch her attention.

"Sorry, Applejack, but I can't allow you to continue.", he said as he heard his charge complain about Applejack being as stubborn as a mule. "Already, thanks to your muffins, you poisoned THE ENTIRE—" He never got to finish as Applejack had raised her hind legs and bucked him in the face, sending him right past his charge—and a mule—into a tree, where he crashed.

"I. WILL. DO THIS. BY MYSELF! And nopony's gonna stop me!", he heard Applejack say before closing his eyes. He was quickly woken up by an apple falling on his head. As he opened his eyes, he saw his charge and a buck-toothed mule standing beside her.

"Chronicle!", he heard his charge call.

"Are you okay?", the mule asked.

The stallion groaned as he righted himself back on all fours and rubbed his muzzle. "Do I look like I'm okay? Applejack just bucked me in the face! Sorry, but that was strike three. Regardless of your opinion or anypony else's, Twilight, I have to do this for the sake of the town!" The then trotted forward, only to fall down in pain. He had suffered some injuries in the legs from his collision with the tree. "Oww! After I get healed up first, that is. Take me to Mystic Shield. He can patch me up quick."

Twilight levitated Chronicle onto the mule's back and the three began to walk to Ponyville.

C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A—C—TS—A

Later, at Mystic Shield's place…

"This is the second time I've had to patch you up.", Mystic said as he put on some bandages on Chronicle's injured body. There were no classes today and the two were at Mystic's living quarters behind the dojo part of his home. They were the only ponies inside.

"Yeah. Ack!" Chronicle winced as Mystic wrapped a bandage around a painful portion after casting a magical bandage spell over it, having learned it from Lemon Hearts, but not mastering it enough just yet.

"What did you get yourself into this time? I hope it's not another griffon."

"Nope. It's Applejack. Man, she's got a powerful buck. Lucky I didn't break my muzzle."

"Well, from what I've seen, a mare's muzzle is more flexible than a stallion's." The blue stallion frowned a bit at this as he didn't take the statement well, given that his face was shaped like a mare's. "Sorry. Why did she hit you?"

"I was trying to reason with her, but she cut me off before I could tell her that she had nearly poisoned the entire town."

"But didn't she?", Mystic asked as he 'picked up' another roll of white bandages.

"Thanks to Derpy's warning, no. I tell you she knows her muffins well."

"Did you or did you not have your shield spell up when she attacked you?"

"No, I didn't."

Mystic sighed in relief. "For a second, I thought she—"

"Oh, please." Chronicle scoffed off his friend's thoughts as more bandages were applied. Luckily, he suffered no splinters. "She was fatigued. I doubt she would've hurt me that much. But given what she managed to do to me, if she were at peak condition, I doubt I would've gotten off unscathed **even with** a barrier up."

"Hmm…all this time, unicorns have been the only ones I've shown plenty of concern for."

"If only because they're the only ones who can learn what you wish to teach."

"Yeah, that's probably it." Mystic nodded as he finished patching up his friend. "There. All done."

"Thanks, Mystic Shield."

"You're welcome."

"STAMPEDE!", a familiar voice called out.

"Again?", Mystic wondered as he and Chronicle left the living quarters. "What's making it this time?"

"Well, whatever it is, it ain't a herd o' cattle. Or if it is, just not as many as last time."

Just then, the doors slammed open as a number of ponies went in. They then promptly closed the door right after.

"What's going on?", asked Mystic. "What's out there?"

"You do not want to find out.", said one of the ponies. It was Sea Swirl.

"Come on. How bad is it?" Just then, there was a small flash. As it turned out, Chronicle had teleported. But where?

The answer was the roof of Mystic's place. There, the blue unicorn looked over what was going on and couldn't believe his eyes. The culprits of the stampede were…bunnies. He then recalled what Fluttershy had said; she was going to have Applejack help her in the bunny census. And given had happened in the previous days, he could tell that it wasn't good. From what he could guess, Applejack probably herded them like she did the cattle, causing them to panic.

Also, he realized that while this would've been ridiculous at first sight, he then saw that these bunnies were eating the plants in the gardens. By themselves. With nopony telling them what to do. _Just like the animals in the Everfree Forest! Not to mention the plants they're eating might have various side effects for the bunnies._

Taking this in, we went for the hole Rainbow Dash had made yesterday, and looked down it to see Mystic looking back up, as if knowing he had gone there. "What's happening outside?"

"A bunny stampede."

"Seriously?"

"And they're eating what's in the gardens."

"That's not good, now that I think of it. If this continues, they'll take some of the town's food supply! Not to mention medicine."

"And the bees too.", another pony said. Mystic turned to see Holly Dash. "Without the flowers, they won't find nectar to gather, or in turn, anything to pollinate. And that could be very bad…"

"Got it. I'm heading out." With that, he exited his dojo as Chronicle jumped down to join him and landed in a roll. Together, the two of them went out to see what they could to to help.

C—MS—HD—C—MS—HD—C—MS—HD—C—MS—HD

Soon…

Twilight was trotting along the street and humming cheerfully to herself. However, she then stopped short with a gasp, seeing three unconscious earth pony mares before her. Daisy, Lily, and Rose.

"The horror!", cried out Rose. "The horror!"

"It was awful!", said Lily.

"A disaster!", Daisy lamented. "A horrible, horrible disaster!"

The cause of which had Twilight mystified, since the street was empty and quiet. "I don't get it."

Lily rushed to a ruined vegetable patch. "Our gardens, destroyed!"

Rose raced to some denuded flowerpots. "Every last flower, devoured!"

Daisy still lay in the street. "By…by…them!" She pointed to a of bunnies chowing down on every bit of greenery in sight.

Twilight could also see Fluttershy in a state of panic. "Oh, my…oh, please stop, little bunnies…oh…no, no…please, let's go home…" She then ran off to chase a few. "…no…oh…oh, my goodness!"

She could also see Chronicle and Mystic 'picking up' bunnies and 'hoisting' them in baskets not unlike the ones Applejack used to carry the apples she was still harvesting. They had then hung them somewhere safe. While the bunnies could easily jump off, they didn't seem to want to.

"All right.", Twilight said to herself. "Enough is enough!"

"Twilight!", her bodyguard called. "Gonna speak with Applejack again?"

"What else do you think?", she called back.

"I'm coming with you.", offered Mystic. "Twice she's already indirectly disrupted my classes."

"But isn't Winona there?", Chronicle warned. "You're scared of her, aren't you?"

"I'll take my chances just this once."

C—TS—F—MS—C—TS—F—MS—C—TS—F—MS

Shortly after, at Sweet Apple Acres…

The three unicorns trotted up a hill where Applejack was weakly bucking a tree. "Must…keep…buckin'...just…a few…more…must…finish…harvestin'…", she muttered as the three came up to her with their complaints.

Twilight was the first. "All right, Applejack. Your applebucking hasn't just caused you problems. It's over-propelled pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies."

Mystic was next. "And those first two have twice interrupted the self-defense classes I've been teaching." In spite of the possibility of Winona being around, he decided to brave it just to voice his complaint.

Chronicle was last. "I don't care what you say, you need help!"

One more buck brought down a double basketful of apples. "Hah! No, I don't. Look, I did it!" Applejack pointed to one part of the orchard. From what the unicorns could see—in addition to Big Macintosh coming over—every visible tree has been cleaned of its fruit. "I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres **without** your help. How d'you like **them** apples?"

They then looked at another part of the orchard…and it turns out only half of the work had been finished. And Macintosh was quick to point it out to his sister as he spoke in a slow and thoughtful tone and gesture his head. "Um…how do **you** like them apples?"

Applejack turned as well and she shuddered in panic upon realizing she was only half-finished. "Where'd all the apple…" Her speech degenerated into unintelligible mumbling as her eyes went out of focus, and she tottered back and forth before finally crashing to the ground.

After a while, Mystic said, "Okay. I don't think I can stick around this place any longer."

Chronicle turned to Applejack's older brother and said, "Uh, Macintosh?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you please escort Mystic out of the farm and make sure he doesn't see Winona?"

"Why?"

"He's a cynophobic. Afraid of dogs."

"Eeyup." With that, the large earth pony accompanied Mystic on the way out of the acres.

Behind him, he heard Twilight calling Applejack's name. As he turned around, the farmpony had come to, and was lying on her back.

"Huh?", she uttered.

"Oh, good. You're okay.", Twilight said. "Now, Applejack, I completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help anypony in need," She didn't notice her friend look nervously off toward the trees that still needed harvesting. "So maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you."

There was a long pause. And he heard Applejack concede. "Okay, Twilight."

"I am not taking no for an answer." She then paused upon realizing what Applejack said. "What?"

"Yes, Twilight." Applejack then put her front hooves together beseechingly. "Yes, please. I could really use your help."

Smiling, Twilight chuckled to herself and let off a relieved little sigh. It was then that Chronicle decided to come over.

"I'm glad you've come to your senses.", he said with a smile, which then turned into a frown. "However, I cannot allow you to simply rest after all that's happened thanks to you." Then, from "hammerspace", he 'procured' a frying pan. "Twilight, I'm only going to say this once; step aside." Upon seeing his resolute face, his charge decided to do as he said as he then walked up to Applejack.

"Huh? What are you—"

She didn't get to finish as the bodyguard 'brought down' his pan hard on her stomach, forcing her to yelp in pain. "This is for inadvertently destroying Mystic Shield's roof!" He then 'delivered' another blow. "This is for poisoning the town with those muffins! If it weren't for Derpy it could've been worse!" Another blow. "This is for ruining part of Ponyville's food supply and medicine supply with the bunny stampede!" Yet another blow. "And this is for bucking me in the face!" For good measure, he 'delivered' one last blow.

"Oww! Now what was that last one for?", Applejack asked, groaning in pain.

"If fatigue won't convince you to rest, I figured a serious injury should. Nothing personal, but I can't let you off with mere words." He then smiled again and he 'picked up' Applejack, hoisted her on his back, then made a stern face. "Let this be a lesson for you. When I get angry, I **will** use force, whether you're a friend or enemy. However, I will only use the proportional amount; something like this and just a beat-up, someone threatens to harm my charge or friends and I'll harm them back, and if one's out to **end** any of you, I'll end **them**." Applejack seemed to shudder for a split second at this. "I take the general safety of my charge and the ponies around me seriously. Please don't make me have to do this again, are we clear?" (3)

He could see nothing but a nod from Applejack. With that, he resumed his smile. "Good."

C—TS—A—BM—MS—C—TS—A—BM—MS—C—TS—A—BM—MS

Later that day…

Applejack's friends were gathered at the Acres, doing what they could to assist. Rainbow Dash was bucking a tree so that its fruit fell into a cart pulled by Pinkie Pie. Mystic was pitching in—still wary in case Winona showed up—as he and Chronicle 'picked' apples from two trees and 'set' them on their baskets. Fluttershy was letting apples from another tree drop into baskets on her back, all just by looking at them somehow since nopony was picking them up and dropping them. Rarity was carrying two full ones away. As for Twilight, she was levitating apples off a large stretch of trees and moving them to fall into three huge tubs.

As they finished, Applejack—now properly rested, and with a swath of bandages wrapped around her midsection, which Macintosh had said he had similarly worn around two weeks before—pushed a beverage cart carrying eight bottles of apple juice, complete with straws.

Applejack called to the rest, "How about y'all take a little break? I got some fine apple juice waitin' for you." Everypony gathered at a table where she had set up the drinks. She then gave a sigh. "Girls, boys, I can't thank you enough for this help. I was actin' a bit stubborn."

"A bit?", Twilight echoed.

"Okay, a might' stubborn. And I'm awful sorry. Now, I know the town gave me the Prize Pony award, but the real award…is havin' you all as my friends."

"Hold it there.", cut in Mystic as everypony drank through the straws. "I'm not that close to all of you just yet."

As he then proceeded to drink as well, Spike walked up as Rainbow finished her drink and pulled away from her straw. "Phew! That applebucking sure made me hungry."

"And I've got the perfect treat!", Spike offered as he held up the botched, half-eaten muffins.

Pinkie, who was next to him, recoiled at the sight. "Ewww! Spike, I threw those away! Where'd you get them?"

"From the trash!"

"EWWW!", everypony said as they started to leave.

Spike followed them, insistent. "Just a little nibble? Come on…"

There were more collective sounds of disgust as Mystic said, "As my student Bullseye would say, 'As if!'"

C—S—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—S—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

_"Dear Princess Celestia: My friend Applejack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help anypony. The only trouble is, when she needs help, she finds it hard to accept it. So while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."_

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Notes:  
(1) I took the 'Magic Sickness' thing from a fic in FiMFiction called Adventures of the Elementals, although I'm not sure if it does apply in canon. So far, I haven't seen much contradiction. Save for the third Season two-parter, that is, but I can work around that.  
(2) I needed something to characterize Derpy's fanon love for muffins and I thought this'd do the trick. And if I can put up Dinky as her daughter, then good for me too.  
(3) In case it isn't obvious, I have a low preference for Applejack. I mean, from what I can see, she doesn't get much comeuppance for any rash actions she did, while Rainbow Dash usually does.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	12. Chapter 15: Feeling Pinkie Keen

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity, Blue Diary (the latter three not appearing this chapter), and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 15: Feeling Pinkie Keen**

Daytime in Ponyville…

At a hill near the town square pavilion. Twilight Sparkle was testing a new spell on Spike, Chronicle standing by in case of emergencies. The baby dragon had a rock balanced on his head, some leaves around his neck, and a twig in his hand like a cane.

The purple unicorn was casting a spell and aiming her horn at her assistant, strain showing on her face. A quick poof turned the leaves into a tuxedo jacket and ruffled shirt with a red bow tie, and a second one left him holding a gold-headed walking stick instead of a twig. Spike looked back over his shoulder with slight trepidation.

"Eyes over here, Spike!", Twilight reminded him.

"Uh, sorry."

"Interesting.", Chronicle noted as the rock on Spike's head bobbed up off his head and changed into a glossy top hat.

"For this to work, it's crucial we keep our concentration totally on the—"

Spike was suddenly distracted by a familiar voice a distance away. And the brand-new headwear promptly resumed its rock-like qualities, dropping squarely on Spike's noggin, smashing him down. By the time he hit the ground, his tux and stick have turned back as well.

Twilight was annoyed at this. "Spike! This magic needs our full attention to make it happen! There's no other way!"

"Can you teach me the specifics of that spell?", her bodyguard asked. "I need to know so I can decide whether or not to learn it."

"Why?"

"If I can temporarily turn any object into a shield or weapon, it'll be useful. If coordination between two individuals is required to make it work, I'll deem it as too much effort."

"Sorry.", Spike apologized as he got up. "I can't help it!" He then gestured somewhere. "Look!"

The something was Pinkie Pie, who stuck her head—covered by an umbrella hat—out from behind a tree and dashes into some bushes. Next, she ducked underneath a porch, risked a peek, and zipped away to a rock. As the three looked on, totally bewildered, she lifted it up off herself and darted away, letting it slam back down.

Twilight sighed impatiently at this. "Never mind her. She's just being Pinkie Pie."

Spike scratched his head. "Super-extra-Pinkie Pie today."

Pinkie's next move was to tiptoe across the green space between two houses. Before she got clear though, she stopped stock-still and her tail begans to twitch. She eyed it as if it were a rattlesnake about to strike. "Huh…twitchy twitch-a-twitch-a-twitch." As it settled down, Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike approached.

"Pinkie Pie, what in the wide wide world of Equestria are you up to?", the bookworm asked.

"Oh, it's my tail!" She put it in Twilight's face. "It's my tail!" Twilight raised her head and pushed the magenta fluff down with a hoof. "It's a-twitch-a-twitchin'!" She then turned around to face them. "And you know what that means!"

There was a long pause. "Actually, Pinkie, I haven't the slightest idea."

Pinkie dropped into a huddle. "The twitchin' means my Pinkie Sense is telling me that stuff's gonna start falling! You two better duck for cover!" As Twilight and Spike traded a smile, Chronicle decided to look up, and made a face.

"Oh, Pinkie, it's not gonna rain. Why, there's barely even a cloud in the—" She never got to finish that thought due to the frog that dropped from above and stopped an inch from her face. As it was, Chronicle managed to 'catch' it in time.

"Whoever said rain was the only thing that can fall from above?", Chronicle said as the frog gave them a loud, cheerful ribbit and Pinkie stood up.

"He just said 'nice catch' in Frog.", Pinkie translated. The frog repeated itself while she smiled and Twilight grimaced mightily.

"If I hadn't caught him, he might've landed on your horn, Twilight. And that would be terrible." He then looked up. "Hi, Fluttershy.", the bodyguard greeted as he waved a hoof upward, inadvertently 'dropping' the frog as it landed on his charge's face.

The two mares and one dragon looked up to see said pegasus hovering some distance up. She was toting saddlebags full of frogs, carrying a basket on one foreleg, hauling a cartload, and letting one extra ride on her head.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry.", Fluttershy apologized. "You okay, Twilight Sparkle? I just couldn't stand to see the pond getting so overpopulated, what with the frogs all hopping into each other and all. So I decided to fly as many as I can on over to Froggy Bottom Bog."

"Of course you did.", Twilight replied levelly as Fluttershy got the basket handle in her teeth.

"Bye-bye!" Once she was gone with her croaking cargo, the dropped frog was now hanging onto Twilight's cheek.

"Um, Twilight? You got a little something on your face there.", said Pinkie.

Twilight replied with sarcasm. "Oh, really? Did your Pinkie Sense tell you that too?"

"Nah. I could just see it." As she trotted off, singing to herself, the frog took its leave of Twilight, launching itself with enough force to set her whole head vibrating for a moment.

"Come on, Spike. Let's continue our practice session where there's a little less commotion." As Twilight walked off, the boys followed, with Spike jumping on her back.

"Wow! That was amazing!", said the dragon. "Pinkie Pie predicted something would fall, and it did!"

"Oh, come on. She said something would fall, and a frog just happened to fall right around the same time. A coincidence. Nothing else to it."

"Well, the Pinkie Sense sounds interesting.", Chronicle said. "I mean, with pegasi having their wings and us unicorns having their magic—" He was interrupted by Pinkie rocketing right at them from behind and hopping frantically in place with her tail vibrating, then standing on her forelegs.

"My tail, my tail! Twitch-a-twitch! Twitch-a-twitch!" While Spike looked fearfully around, Chronicle looked around, not only up, but ahead as well, and noticed something. "Something else is gonna fall!"

As the the umbrella-hatted pony collapsed onto her haunches, Twilight walked away, carrying Spike. "Oh, Pinkie, please. Nothing else is gonna faaaAAAAAA—" She was cut off by a sudden pull of her tail and the front half of her body dropping—getting Spike off of her back and onto a ditch, which she would've fallen to as well if Chronicle didn't 'pull' her tail in time, leaving her other half dangling at the edge.

Knocked silly, Spike said, "Oh, no! I fell!"

"And Twilight almost did too were it not for me.", added the bodyguard, gently 'letting go' of his charge and letting her slide down. "And now she has." As Pinkie walked up to him, he turned to address her. "Is it, uhh…safe to go help them? Anything else incoming?"

"It's okay.", Pinkie assured as she swished her tail. "My tail's stopped twitching." With a toss of her head, she relieved herself of the umbrella hat and trotted away singing.

Chronicle regarded her and the dropped headgear, 'picked up' the hat, stowed it into "hammerspace", then peeked into the ditch with a groan. Twilight was growling quietly and she and Spike worked their way back up to vertical.

"That was amazing!", Spike said in spite of his injury.

"Oh, please.", groaned Twilight.

"Uh, Twilight?", they heard Applejack call. "Why are you hangin' out in a ditch?"

"Because Pinkie Pie predicted it!", Spike replied as he and Twilight peeked up from the ditch. There was a look of surprise from Applejack.

"Honestly, Spike, she did not. Two coincidences in a row like this may be unlikely, but it's still easier to believe than twitchy tails that predict the future." Twilight swished her own tail at the proper moment to make the point.

"I'll have to agree for now.", said Chronicle. "Twice is still just a coincidence."

Suddenly, Applejack managed to voice an unnerved gasp and neigh at the same time. "Twitchy tail?", she gasped as she reared up. "Pinkie Sense?" Then she dashed and took cover beneath a nearby produce cart, pulling her hat down tighter with a scared moan before Spike crossed to her.

"Don't worry, it's safe. The prediction already came true. "

Twilight climbed out of the ditch as Applejack emerged from the cart. "Oh, wait. Don't tell me you believe in this stuff too."

"I know it doesn't make much sense, but those of us who have been in Ponyville a while have learned over time that if Pinkie's a-twitchin', you better listen."

Right on cue, Pinkie showed up. This time, though, her ears were doing the mambo. "My ears are flopping, my ears are flopping!"

Spike recoiled in terror with a cry. "What does that mean?"

Pinkie turned to face Twilight. "I'll start a bath for you."

"Huh?", She then laughed as Spike and Applejack backed while Chronicle looked at the street. "A bath? This thing keeps on getting more ridiculous by the minute!"

The fact that she actually finished this bit of criticism did not stop another calamity from almost befalling her. In this case, she would've been splattered with mud thrown up by a passing hay wagon were it not for Chronicle putting up a panel barrier between her and the dirty water. However, the bodyguard had neglected to shield himself and was the one muddied instead since he stood next to her.

"Okay.", Chronicle managed to say. "Pinkie. You'll need to start a bath, but for me instead." Twilight just sank to her haunches with an infuriated groan.

C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP

Later, in Sugarcube Corner…

Chronicle was in a full sudsy bathtub in the bathroom reserved for Pinkie and the Cakes, the owners of the store. His charge stood nearby much to his slight embarrassment. Even though nudity was a non-issue, being in a tub with a female in sight was something he was still getting used to. He blew some of the bubbles away as Pinkie emerged from behind him and the candy/sweets print curtain, a bottle of bubble bath soap balanced on her head.

"So basically, it works like this.", Pinkie explained her Sense as she set the bottle by the sink. "I get different little niggly feelings and they mean different things." She proceeded to demonstrate. "Like when my back is itchy, it means it's my lucky day. And when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary's about to happen."

"Is your knee pinchy now?", Twilight asked.

Pinkie flexed the joint. "No, but my shoulder's achy. That means there's an alligator in the tub."

Chronicle plunged his head into the soap suds, then came up a second later 'holding up' a small one that bore impossibly pinkish-purple eyes. "You mean this alligator?", he asked flatly without a trace of fright.

Twilight however freaked out so badly that she jumped to a short stool just behind her with a cry and balanced all four hooves on it. "How come your knee didn't get pinchy?", she asked as Pinkie took the little reptile from Chronicle's arcanokinetic "grip". "That isn't just scary, it's downright dangerous!"

"No, it's not, silly!", Pinkie said. This is my pet alligator Gummy." Gummy opened its mouth, exposing toothless gums. "He's got no teeth!" He then jumped and nipped her foreleg. "See?" Neither this nip, nor the ones that followed to her mane and tail, had any ill effects, and she even giggled as he plied his gums on her.

"Okay, okay. I get it."

"Strange. From what I read about alligators, their teeth regrow quickly.", Chronicle said. "And even without them, his bite still should've hurt hard. Where'd you get him?" (1)

"I'm not allowed to say. Neither the writ—", Pinkie was about to answer when Chronicle gave a death glare. She then remembered the promise she made to him. "Oh, sorry."

"Never mind. Perhaps you can tell me later."

"Okey-dokey-lokey!"

C—TS—PP—C—TS—PP—C—TS—PP—C—TS—PP

Later…

As the three ponies left Sugarcube Corner, Twilight still refused to acknowledge what just happened. "Well, I still don't believe all this "special power" stuff. It's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo."

"What's not to believe?", Pinkie asked. "You do magic." Twilight stopped in surprise as the earth pony went on. "What's the difference?"

"Huge!" Twilight galloped to catch up, finding Pinkie stopped at a well near a cart selling cleaning products.

As Chronicle caught up, he saw his charge notice a crate on the ground, push the items aside and climb atop it. _Soapbox, heheh._, he mentally giggled.

"For one thing…", Twilight then cleared her throat. "…magic—"

"Unicorn magic.", he cut in.

"—is something you study and practice.", she continued as if he hadn't interrupted.

"Like science."

"It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific, that you choose to happen, happen! With you, uh…it makes no sense at all!"

"That's **so** not true, Twilight.", Pinkie argued. "Sometimes it's a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call 'em 'combos'."

Twilight jumped down and walked to the library, which was close by. "Combos?"

Pinkie hopped after her toward the library as they rounded Chronicle's training range. "Sure! You know, like ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter?" She showed off each movement in the sequence as she named it. "That means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow."

"Yeah. Sure.", Twilight said dismissively as she headed for the door.

"Uh-oh. I feel a combo coming on." And it went off, step by step. "Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch!"

The bookworm unicorn just threw a skeptical glance back from the library doorstep, then got the entire door thrown at her—more precisely, slammed into her face by Spike, who backed out with a stack of books. When it swings shut, she was squashed flat across its woodwork, from which she slid down with a pained moan to wind up in a heap on the doorstep.

"You said that combo meant 'beautiful rainbow.'", Twilight moaned woozily.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no.", Pinkie said as she acted out. "You're thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter."

"Hmm…same movements, wrong order, different message.", Chronicle said. "Right, Pinkie?"

"Yup! This was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch. That usually means "look out for opening doors." You okay?" Twilight got up.

Twilight was absolutely frustrated. "I don't believe this!"

Pinkie got into her face. You don't believe because you don't understand." She then backed off.

"Hmmm…"

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

In the basement of the library…

Chronicle looked in awe at the bubbling flask in a rack, then to the rest of the laboratory equipment, then at the root-covered ceiling. Stairs led down into this area. "Wow. How'd you get all of this in, Twilight?", he asked. "Unless the previous owner was a scientist, which I somehow doubt."

Pinkie stood on her hind legs behind a console, resting her forelegs on it and wearing a helmet covered with diodes. Near her was a strip chart recorder that has been hooked up to the console. Twilight—who had ignored her bodyguard's comment—gripped one last wire in her teeth and plugged it into the helmet. As the diodes winked to life, she threw a burst of telekinesis at two clamps on the console, causing them to flip shut on Pinkie's forelegs and hold her in place.

"Okay." Twilight said as the recorder started cranking out graphs and chuffing steam. "Now when you get another twitch, we'll have all kinds of scientific information."

"Okey-dokey-lokey!", Pinkie replied cheerfully. Her expression rearranged itself into stoic composure as she stood there and Twilight watched both her and the chart. Nothing happened for several seconds, except for the periodic puffs of steam coming off the recorder.

"This isn't gonna work.", Chronicle groaned.

"Any twitches yet?", asked Twilight.

"Nopey-dopey!", Pinkie replied cheerfully.

Chronicle decided ask questions to pass the time. "Pinkie, back in the Everfree Forest, when Nightmare Moon set up those faces in the trees, did your knee get pinchy?"

"Uh-huh."

"Did it get pinchy when you saw the Ursa Minor? Provided you did see it."

"A bit."

"Does it get pinchy during a thunderstorm?"

"Nope."

_Okay. So she isn't scared of lightning. It's not even scary, just startling._ "Did it get pinchy when you mistrusted Zecora back then?"

"Now that I think of it, no."

"Did your tail twitch before I fell off the ravine? Or the mountain? You know when."

"I do and yup."

"Did it twitch at any time during the buffalo-settler war back in Appleloosa?" _Those falling attack pies._

"Uh-huh."

"How many times did your back itch?"

"Is this even relevant?", Twilight asked.

"Duh. Those events that would trigger the Pinkie Sense could've easily happened. And I needed to know." _Provided she isn't lying._

His charge groaned in impatience. "Now? Anything?"

Pinkie concentrated for a moment. "Wait! Hold on! …Uh, no."

"Are you kidding me? After a whole day of nonstop twitching, now that I've got you all hooked up, you're not getting a single one?"

"I don't control it. They just come and go."

"That makes no sense!"

"Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even when you can't figure 'em out."

Twilight got in her face. "I will not believe in anything I cannot explain."

"I don't think you're doing this experiment right.", Chronicle told his charge. "Given what we—or at least I—figured out so far, this place doesn't have the proper conditions for the Pinkie Sense to operate. No bathtubs, no alligators, no doors to look out for, nopony needing to look out for them, nothing here at risk of falling, luck being an incalculable factor, nothing that can elicit the need of a bath… There's just little chance to make it work right now." _Unless a giant extraterrestrial object is about to land right here._ "I mean, we're just standing in a basement without moving. That means nothing whatsoever is going to happen, so there's nothing for Pinkie Sense to predict."

"Wait!", Pinkie suddenly said. "Hold on…I'm feeling something…"

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight gasped as she looked at the chart. "What? What is it?"

The answer was a loud grumble from Pinkie's gut. "It's my tummy! That usually means I'm hungry. Let's eat!"

"That's not the Pinkie Sense at work.", Chronicle grumbled as his charge gave out a loud groan. "Just about every sentient animal has that."

"You know what?", the exasperated scientist said before yanking the wires out with her teeth, shutting down the entire rig, and spitting them away. "Just forget it! I don't need to know if this is real or not. I don't need to understand it. I don't even care!"

As she then walked off, Pinkie pulled her forelegs out of the clamps and flipped the helmet off her head. "Okey-dokey-lokey!"

"Still, that's a pretty useful trait.", Chronicle said as they went up the stairs. "I know a number of dangers that can trigger the Pinkie Sense."

Pinkie was the first to reach the door. As the three ponies approached it however, she went rigid with a little gasp and backed away. "Uh-oh." A combo then hit her—ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch—that caused her to gasp loudly and jitter backward.

Chronicle noted this and aimed his horn at Twilight, who was at the door, and had just enough time for one glance at Pinkie before it was flung open. Before it could smash her completely, her bodyguard already had his arcanokinetic 'grip' on her tail and pulled her away, but he wasn't fast enough, leaving the door to get just her head instead.

Spike, for the second time, turned out to be the one who opened it.

"Pinkie, have you seen Twilight? ", he asked Pinkie, who hopped merrily along the path.

"Uh-huh.", she answered as she left.

Spike did not find the unicorn he was asking for until the door swung shut, with her face pounded flat on the wall.

_Good thing I managed to convince Twilight to drink that Resilience Potion Tricky Books gave me yesterday. (2)  
_

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_Yesterday, at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…_

_The two unicorns stood just outside the door after the rest of the students left._

_"Here, Chronicle. I'd like you to test this out." Tricky 'procured' a corked Erlenmeyer flask (or whatever counterpart Erlenmeyer has in Equestria) containing a pink not-glowing liquid, making Chronicle think of strawberry juice as he 'took' it from him. "It's a Resilience Potion. To help in surviving extreme blows with little damage. I made it myself." As it was, Tricky had managed to find a job in Ponyville as a lab assistant, although he made a few useful concoctions of his own._

_"Are you sure this is a good idea?", Chronicle asked as he 'swished' its contents._

_"Tested it. Completely works. I don't know if this is a side effect or not, but when I accidentally slammed a heavy weight on my hoof after drinking it, when I pulled it up, my leg was flat. I felt less pain than I should've, and then it popped back to normal a few seconds later."_

_"Wow. That's an interesting potion."_

_"Unfortunately, the materials I need are rare, so I can't make a lot of them."_

_"I see."_

_"Chronicle.", Mystic Shield called his attention, standing at the door between the dojo and his livig quarters. "Remember the wager?"_

_"Yes, yes I do, Master Shield, though I can't remember why you did it in the first place."_

_As it was, for some reason, while they and the others helped Applejack harvest the apple orchard last applebuck season, Mystic and Twilight made a small and generally pointless bet on whether or not she could go for the next three weeks without teleporting. He bet she couldn't. She bet she could._

_If Mystic were to win, Twilight would teach him how to teleport **and** make sure he masters it. If she won, she would become a student in his academy—where the choice of whether or not she'll give the spell for others to learn is up to her._

_Honestly, Chronicle—who was entrusted to tell Mystic if Twilight loses the bet—had no idea how Mystic would be disadvantaged by either result, but he didn't complain._

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

As Chronicle finished reminiscing, he heard Spike say, "Twilight? What are you doing there?"

His charge groaned with effort and asked, "Did you two plan this?"

"Plan what?"

Twilight's head finally popped into its regular shape as she gave a louder groan. "This is ridiculous! This can't be happening! This makes no sense! I have to figure this out."

_This won't end well. I hope the potion lasts the day._

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type)- A replay of the events concerning the door in the lab, stopping at the point before the reminiscing part. The show's logo is seen on the bottom.

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

(3) In the park outside Ponyville proper…

Near the park's fountain, Pinkie hopped along giggling to herself, and stopped to smell a flower. As she resumed her cheerful travels, a bush rose clear of the ground and began to follow her, moving under the power of four violet legs.

Once it settled down, a pair of binoculars poked out of the leaves. Twilight looked through them, focusing and zooming in on Pinkie. She donned a pith helmet and stuck a pencil in her teeth. She then quickly ducked behind the bush, resting the binoculars and a notepad on the ground, and then levitated the pencil to write, taking a cautious peek over the shrubbery as she did so.

"Twilight?", a voice called.

Immediately, she leaped straight up with a frightened scream and thud down by the bush. Spike, who had just come over, got yanked in with a yell of his own. "Honestly, Spike, don't you know better than to sneak up on ponies?"

"Oh, sorry, but, um, well, isn't that what you're doing?", he replied as she peeked up. He proceeded to do so as well, only for her to gasp and tackle him to the ground.

"No…", she replied in a hushed tone as she peeked through the bush. "…I'm doing scientific research. I'm observing Pinkie Pie, scientific name _Pinkius pieicus_, in its natural habitat."

Spike peeked through as well. "Pinkius who-icus?" Both ducked down inside the bush.

"There's something fishy going on with the whole twitchy prediction thing, and I'm getting to the bottom of it. So, shhh!"

The baby dragon acknowledged this with a finger to his lips. "Twilight?", another voice then called, startling the two as they looked around. "If you wanted to spy on her, you could've asked me to do it for you."

"Chronicle?", Spike asked. "Where are you?"

"I'm speaking to you through Surveillance." Both of them 'furrowed their eyebrows' before remembering. Back at the train to Appleloosa, Chronicle explained to them and their friends how it worked. One of its features—aside from letting him see and hear whatever's happening around who he's watching and what they're doing—was that he can talk to them, which he doesn't use as the ones he's watching aren't supposed to figure out they were being watched in the first place.

"You didn't answer Spike's question.", Twilight said.

"As for where I am, I'm somewhere you can't see me, but where I can see you without Surveillance. You could've asked me to watch her, you know."

"No. I need first-hoof sources, and that can only come from me."

"Oh, right. Hold on. _Pinkius pieicus_ is on the move. You better too."

Immediately, Twilight lifted the bush and walked along, following Chronicle's directions. Spike, whose legs were too short to touch the ground, treaded air while she moved the greenery.

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

Later…

At the schoolhouse playground just out of the town proper, Pinkie's three watchers observed her rolling about on the grass and humming to herself. One of the watchers noted that real equines did that and that it wasn't mere randomness from Pinkie.

Twilight peeked out from her bush to scope the scene with binoculars. From her perspective, Pinkie stood, scrunched up her face, and scratched her nose.

"Hmmm…itchy nose.", Twiight whispered as Spike took notes. Suddenly, Pinkie gasped wide-eyed, zipped across the playground, and huddled beneath an oversized horseshoe. Back at the bush, Twilight lowered her binoculars. "Aha! That makes no sense!" She then leaned down to Spike. "See? She's hiding like something's about to fall from the sky, but a twitchy tail means something's gonna fall from the sky, not an itchy nose."

Chronicle however, from his vantage point at one of the trees in the area, saw something else coming. A swarm of bees could be seen overhead and streaking down to the playground. "Twilight, you should move.", he advised.

"This proves, perhaps conclusively, that—" She didn't notice Spike gasp as he saw what Chronicle (and Pinkie) saw until he bailed out with a yell "Spike! Where are you going? I'm trying to teach you the value of scientific obser—" he got no farther as the swarm descended on the bush with enough ferocity to make it jump in place as Twilight gets stung again and again. "Ow! Ouch! Ow! Ooh!"

Chronicle could do nothing for her as he took down his own notes from the safety of his tree. "Analysis: Pinkie Pie's itchy nose means that a swarm of bees is en route. Or stinging insects. Or a swarm in general. Need more conclusive info. Sufficient for now."

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

At Sweet Apple Acres…

Wearing a plethora of Band-Aids in addition to her helmet, Twilight continued her investigation while watching from behind a stack of hay bales next to the barn. Chronicle had decided to join her after the bee sting incident and provided his intel.

"What's she doing now?", Spike whispered as he sat on the ground beside the two unicorns.

From what they could see, Pinkie was smelling flowers in the orchard. "Smelling a flower.", Twilight answered him.

"Holy guacamole! I wonder what that means!"

Twilight lowered her binocs. "Probably that the flower smells good." She raised them again. "Wait! I'm getting something! Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch."

"Hold on." He then ran off to a second stack of bales several yards away as Twilight lowered her binocs. "You told me that's the combo that says "watch out for opening doors"!"

Looking behind herself, Twilight took note of a door whose top half was open and laughed dismissively. "You really, really believe this stuff, don't you?" She turned to the door. "Here. Let me show you there's nothing to be afraid of." She propped one foreleg on the edge of the closed lower half and smirked across the way.

While she did that, Chronicle looked around for other doors that could still met the condition of the combo…and located one. It was a ground-mounted hatch. "You see?", he heard his charge say as she trotted away…and toward the hatch as it flipped open, not minding her step. "I promise you there's nothing to fear from that—" Before she could reach the "open door" and fall in, Chronicle tugged on her tail with his teeth, forcing her to rear up, then fall over, dropping her pith hat, which proceeded to fall down the "doorway" and its steps. "What are you doing? I could've gotten hurt!"

"You could've gotten worse!", he retorted as he pointed at the open hatch whle Spike walked over and peeked in. "Not believing in the Pinkie Sense doesn't mean you shouldn't watch where you're walking to disprove it! And let this be a reminder to you. In farms, there are doors outdoors, and I know I'm not making sense with that statement."

Just then, Applejack popped out from the door, holding Twilight's pith helmet on top of her own hat. "Hey, guys!", she called. "You came to visit my new apple cellar? How nice!"

"Like that.", Chronicle continued, then turned to the farmpony. "Sorry 'bout that, Applejack, but maybe another time. Nice to hear you got that place, though."

C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP

Later…

"If it weren't for me, you would've been in a wheelchair, got casts on your forelegs, and need to have them attached to traction wires with pulleys attached to a framework and operated by a lever just to continue in your observation."

"Isn't that a bit too specific?"

Chronicle was scolding Twilight as they both hid on the opposite end of a park bench. The latter had since discarded her helmet and bandages as she looked through the binoculars. Spike, the second one who spoke, stood behind them taking notes.

"Okay. Take this down.", Twilight whispered to her assistant. "Twitchy tail."

"Twitchy tail…" Right after taking it down, it took a second for him to gasp and go into a full-scale panic, throwing the notepad away. "TWITCHY TAIL!"

This disturbed Twilight as she dropped her binoculars and Chronicle decided to look up just in case—and paled in shock. "Hush, Spike! We can't let Pinkie know we're here, remember?"

"Something's gonna fall! Something's gonna fall! Run for your lives!" And he did so, whooping crazily.

"Ugh! Spike, honestly. You're overreact—"

"Time to go!", her bodyguard cut in as he tried to pull her away, but to no avail.

"Honestly, you too?"

He never got to answer as the prediction came true. In five seconds, a flowerpot, anvil, hay wagon, and piano all crashed squarely down on his charge's head. He quickly looked up to see a delivery truck floating in midair (he had no idea how it was possible, probably by innate pegasus magic or something) and pulled by Merry May and Dizzy Twister. At the tailgate, the forepony—a khaki stallion with a grizzled white mane/tail, a crate cutie mark, cap, and five o'clock shadow (which puzzled the unicorn)—glared at Derpy and another pegasus pony he remembered was named Raindrops, who had a jasmine coat, Tiffany blue hair, turquoise eyes, and three of her namesakes as her cutie mark.

While Parasol carried a box away, the forepony was glaring at Raindrops and Derpy, who both grinned sheepishly at the apparent lapse of concentration that did all this damage, and the latter gasped as well.

"Careful down there!", Chronicle called from below as he then quickly 'lifted' away all the debris and unearthed his charge, who looked extremely dizzy and had swirls for eyes for some reason. _Is this another of the Resilience Potion's side effects?_ "I gotcha." He then cast the "magical bandage" spell he learned from Lemon Hearts. Unlike most unicorns, he was a fast learner. The only reason he doesn't have more spells in his "arsenal" like Twilight is because he's selective in what he learns.

Right after casting the spell and 'placing' it on a spot not covered by the actual bandages, something strange happened. The moment the 'bandage' was on, most of the visible injuries in Twilight's body faded in seconds. As she quickly got up and shook off the debris on her, it was apparent that some of the invisible internal injuries as well as the head trauma was gone as well. _Looks like yet another of the potion's side effects._

C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP

At the park…

Pinkie was humming and licking at a spot on a front hoof when she saw a familiar farmpony come over with a basket of apples on her back. "Hey, Applejack! Whatcha doin'?"

"Takin' more apples to my new apple cellar. How 'bout you, Pinkie? What you doin'?"

"Oh, letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing."

As if on cue, said unicorn hobbled over, wearing casts on her forelegs, which were healing up slower than the other parts of her body, but still recovering faster than normal.

_I'll have to inform Tricky Books about this._, Chronicle thought as he walked alongside her.

"You mean you knew all along?! Why didn't you tell me?"

Pinkie giggled, insensitive to the misfortune that had befallen her friend during her observations. "Silly, that would have spoiled the secret."

Her huge smile was met by a series of contorted, lopsided grimaces and a groan as Spike poked his head out from behind Twilight's tail. Spike asked fearfully, "Tail still twitching?"

Pinkie looked at her own, then said, "All done. Clear skies from here on in, as far as I can tell." But then she pulled a new trick; her entire body jittered briefly.

Spike ducked behind Twilight again as Applejack lets her basket fall. Chronicle stood wary. "Oh, no! What does that one mean?", the dragon asked.

"Don't know. Never gotten any like it before. But whatever that shudder's about, it's a doozy! Something you never expect to happen is gonna happen!" Another, longer shudder wracked her as all four watched. "And it's gonna happen…at Froggy Bottom Bog!"

Applejack gasped, "That's where Fluttershy's headed!" Just as she said that, said pegasus pony flashed in Chronicle's mind and he put a hoof to his chest, breathing heavily, although nopony noticed. (4)

_A heart attack? But I've been eating a healthy diet! Why is this…_

Spike peeked from behind Twilight. "Oh, no! Is it about her?"

"Uh…I'm not sure.", Pinkie replied.

"We'd better go and make sure she's okay.", Applejack said as Chronicle suddenly galloped off ahead of her. Immediately, she followed.

"Calm down, everypony.", Twilight assured as Pinkie followed, Spike doing the same shortly after. "All we know right now is that Pinkie Pie just got a case of the shivers. That's all." She then finally realized that she has lost her audience, much to her discontent.

The other three ponies meanwhile were making good time; Spike was slowly falling behind, but Twilight pulled up and slipped her head underneath to flip him onto her back. When Chronicle stole a look back, he could see that she has completely recovered from her injuries. _Another side effect? No, can't think of that right now! Fluttershy is in danger, I just know it!_

"Hey! I thought you didn't believe in this stuff!", said Spike.

"I don't. I just want to be there to see the look on Pinkie's face when we find out nothing's wrong."

"Okey-dokey.", said Pinkie.

"I think you lost your original motive, Twilight.", Chronicle said as Applejack led them along the road toward the overgrown quagmire. "And aren't you the slightest bit concerned? I just know she's in trouble."

"Next thing I know, you're telling me you got the Pinkie Sense too.", his charge replied with sarcasm.

He decided to humor her. "Maybe I do. That heart attack didn't just come out of nowhere, you know. But since it's the first time, I'm not gonna say if I do have any special senses."

C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP

(3) At the outskirts of the bog…

As the group charged, with Spike off Twilight's back and running under his own steam, Pinkie suddenly stopped short, struck by another shudder.

Twilight stopped and spoke in a sardonic manner. "Cold? Need a jacket or something?"

Pinkie started ahead as everypony slowed their pace." No, thanks. I'm fine." She then got another one. Chronicle seemed to be tense, wanting to run ahead, but not wanting to leave his friends behind, and not trusting enough to leave behind a magical clone to do either task.

Spike turned to Applejack. "So, what do you think happened to Fluttershy?"

"I hope nothin'."

"I know, but…what do you think happened?"

"I'm tryin' not to think about it."

"Me too." He became fearful. "But…I'm thinking about it anyway. Like…what if…she exploded?"

Applejack was skeptical. "Just exploded, for no reason?"

"Yeah, like, boom!" Everyone stopped.

"Whoa!", gasped Pinkie.

"I know!"

"What if…what if she exploded, and then…" She jumped up. "…and then exploded again?"

"Can you do that? Can you explode twice?"

Applejack testily started ahead. "Of course not."

Spike followed, "But what if…she exploded…and exploded again…and then—" He was stopped short by Twilight, who had put her hoof on his tail.

"Will you two stop!" She let go as Pinkie skidded up. "She's fine, I'm sure of it." All of them then moved ahead.

"I hope you're right, for Fluttershy's sake.", Applejack said.

"Oh, I can't take it!", Chronicle cried out as he made his decision; he was about to go on ahead when Applejack cried out and turned to the right. He looked as well to see a broad stretch of swampland.

"Look! There's Froggy Bottom Bog!"

Immediately, he was on it, followed by the rest as they then started searching for Fluttershy, calling out her name. Twilight climbed a sloping tree, Applejack scoped the scene from a small neck of solid ground, Chronicle looked around desperately, and Pinkie lifted the edge of a lily pad to peek beneath. A frog promptly jumped onto it, knocking it flat and eliciting a surprised gasp.

Next, Spike leaped onto the magenta mane to drive its owner's face into the muck…and he saw Fluttershy standing a few feet out on a rock and emptying her basket of frogs.

"Fluttershy!", the baby dragon as he—and Chronicle—jumped over, the former hugging her, and the latter entering a protective stance. "You're okay!"

She was more than a bit surprised by this greeting. "Of course."

Twilight and Applejack watched from shore. "Whoo…what a relief.", the latter sighed.

"I'm so glad everything's all right.", Pinkie said.

"For the moment.", Chronicle said as he maintained his stance.

Twilight was smug however, "Sorry. I know it's not nice to gloat, but…AHA!"

Spike was so surprised that he fell into the water, the three ponies she was facing aimed slightly vexed looks her way, and she did not notice a large, brown, scaly something swim by.

"Twilight…", Chronicle attempted to warn.

But she didn't listen. "I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right." Green mist started to rise. "Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a—" She let out a cough as Applejack walked away. "—doozy, and *cough* and the only *cough* doozy here is how right I am.

Spike was now out of the water and Chronicle was flaring a spell as he, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stard at a vertical stretch of the brown thing as it slowly rose from the water, throwing the green mist as it did so. Twilight had her back to it and was still oblivious as Applejack, near her, caught a look at it.

"Um…" the farmpony gave a hard swallow. "…Twilight?" She then crosseed to the others

Twilight was still ignorant, however. "Pinkie's made a lot of predictions today, but—ugh, what is that smell?"

"Twilight.", Chronicle called as he noticed three vertical things standing up from the mire, hemming the group in, and a guttural growl drifting down over them.

"But what we've shown here—"

"Twilight."

"—is that there's no point in believing—"

"Twilight!"

Another cough. "—in anything you can't see for yourself."

The bodyguard can't take it. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

"What?!" It was then that she noticed that everyone else save for him and her were moaning and terrified, looking the threat straight on the entire time.

Spike answered for Chronicle as he pointed. "W-W-Well, then, s-s-see what's b-b-behind you, Twilight!"

The scientifically minded unicorn finalled turned and looked up to see the expanse of scaly brown hide that now filled her vision. The growl intensified by a few dozen decibels, and she could see four snakelike heads and necks standing up from the bog. "I see it…but I don't believe it!" Three of the four heads roared in unison, the fourth—second from left—joining in a moment later.

"Well, you better believe it."

C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type)- The huge beast stands on the left side of the screen. Twilight Sparkle is with the others as Chronicle puts up a shield while they stand on the right side of the screen. The show's logo is seen on the top.

C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP

"Is that a hydra?", Pinkie asked.

"Who cares?", Applejack said. "RUN!"

The group bailed out save Pinkie, who found herself on the receiving end of the creature's hungry stares and started to back up, and Chronicle, who thought better, quickly picked her up, and skedaddled as they avoided a bite from one of the hydra's heads.

"Pinkie! Come on!", Twilight called as he caught up with them.

"Time to go!", her bodyguard said as the pink earth pony suddenly flung herself off his back and ahead of the others, running mid-air as she bypassed Fluttershy, who in turn passed one of the frogs she brought to the bog as it fled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry.", she said.

"Don't worry about him. We're the hydra's current target since we're a bigger meal. Not that that's a good thing for us."

Just then, another head focused on Twilight, throwing a good scare into her, and the hydra's entire lizard-like body emerged from the ooze. A strike at her came up just short. Ditto the next one, which targeted Applejack as she hopped from root to root. Fluttershy managed to barely get away thanks to Chronicle, who quickly hoisted her up his back, jumping from a chomp that caught the rock they were standing on. The second head from the left, the only one to stay out of the action, laughed at the other three—angry, with a mouthful of tree, and dazed.

Fluttershy got off Chronicle's back as they and the others bolted for it while Spike scrambled along a low-hanging vine. Eventually, the ponies stopped short at earth outcropping blocking the path ahead. Twilight took a swift look around, then galloped to one side as she said, "Everypony up that hill!"

"HEEELLLP!", Spike cried out in distress.

He was bogged down in the morass and only dug himself in farther when he tried to swim away from the approaching hydra.

Twilight was about to charge back, only to see Chronicle already on it. "Coming, Spike! Hang on!", he called.

Racing into the mud, a spell on his feet to keep from being bogged himself, he 'scooped' him up on his head and made tracks an instant before the reptilian jaws slammed shut at where he was a second ago. As the others sprinted uphill and he caught up, the four heads gave chase but snap back suddenly. As it turned out, one of the hydra's feet was mired in glop. It pulled loose after a moment and resumed the pursuit.

"Just wonderin'.", Applejack asked Chronicle. "Why didn't you decide to fight that hydra?"

"You kiddin' me? I read that if I cut off one of its heads, two more will grow in its place."

"You were considerin' **that**?!"

"Hey, it's either it or us! And I don't think Fluttershy's in the condition to talk them down, given its many heads. And even if she was, we don't have time to plan this right now."

"I think we're gonna make it!", Twilight said.

Spike pointed ahead. "But Pinkie's still shuddering!"

Indeed she was, but stopped abruptly and ended up standing still as Fluttershy galloped by. "Oh, looky there. It's stopped!" Only for a moment, though. "Ohhh! The-e-ere i-i-it i-i-is aga-a-ai-i-in-n-n!" Spike arriveed on the end of this to push her up the slope, and Twilight followed him while glancing back down the way.

Unfortunately, Applejack let out a gasp. As the others caught up, they realized that they were at the edge of a cliff. Half a dozen tall, narrow stone pillars, separated by large gaps, stood between them and the cliff on the opposite side of the canyon.

A tremor from the beast's footstep brought a frightened gasp from the group; the hydra was beginning to climb the hill. Twilight cried out before putting together any coherent words. "He'll be up here in no time! Quick! One at a time! Cross!"

When Spike zipped up to the edge, his momentum brought him within an ace of going over it. He yelled, got himself safely back, and turned to Twilight as Pinkie's shudders resumed. "Uh, do you know any spells for turning a hydra into a mouse?"

"No!"

"How about a squirrel?"

"No!"

"How about—"

"No small rodents of any kind!"

"That's too bad."

"What about anything less dangerous than it currently is?", piped Chronicle.

"The hydra's too big for any transfiguration spells!"

"Thought as much."

"A hop, skip, and a…" Fluttershy leaped toward the first pillar. "…jump!" And hit it dead center, bounding away for good measure.

_Good thing she remembered._, Chronicle thought as he momentarily looked back at the dragon incident—and Mystic Shield's first adventure with them.

Spike was next to go, thrown by Twilight. He landed on the flat and watched as the equine jackhammer skittered up, then jumped ahead. She went over the edge, taking one pop-eyed look at the air below her hooves, but remained suspended in midair long enough for Applejack to get a mouthful of tail and yank her back.

"He's too close!" She lowered her head and pawed the ground. "I'll distract him. The rest of you go! Now!"

While the farmpony pushed off from the brink, hauling Pinkie along, Chronicle stayed back. "As if I'd leave you behind! I'm your bodyguard!"

But she wasn't listening. "Ohhh…what would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do?"

As an idea caused her eyes to widen and her ears to perk up, while she put a fierce expression, Chronicle closed his eyes and flared his horn. He opened them to see that he had summoned **two** magical clones. He felt proud for a moment, only to hear Twilight cry out, "CHAAARRRGE!"

He turned to see that she was in full gallop down the slope. Quickly, he ordered his two clones to go after her and he did so himself as well.

All four of the hydra's heads whipped down toward her, but she held her course, followed by three blue unicorns. After a few seconds, the heads stopped and the second from left voiced a puzzled grunt, looking back toward ground level. As it turned out, the fierce and/or foolhardy unicorn raced directly beneath the underbelly and kept running, three heads peeking down and snaking through the legs after her. As the entire body started to overbalance, the puzzled head—which had stayed out of it—gaped after the others, just in time for the hydra to flip itself forward up the hill and land on its back.

Immediately, after Twilight skid to a stop, Chronicle and his copies jumped onto the Hydra's belly and started striking it with their "magic horn blades". At the far side of the chasm, where the rest of the group had made it across, Pinkie was shuddering again.

"T-T-T-Twilight! Ch-Ch-Ch-Chronicle!", she called.

The hydra began to peel itself up and took note of Twilight rushing past uphill with a puzzled little whimper. It then noticed the three attackers and one of its head struck…sending the real one back up the cliff's edge.

Luckily, he didn't lose enough focus for the clones to be automatically dismissed. In fact, as long as he's alive and breathing, they'll stick around until dismissed by him or hit really hard. After all, he called one up in his sleep back in Twilight's first slumber party.

A giant brown foot slamming to the turf and a feral growl terrified Twilight all over again as Chronicle's copies continued the futile assault. The purple unicorn jumped back to avoid being eaten alive when the cliff's edge got smashed away, luckily stopping where Chronicle lay. The first of the stepping-stone pillars wound up at a crazy angle after the hit, and as Twilight got turf under her hooves, she saw it topple over and knock out the next three like dominoes.

Chronicle regained consciousness in time to hear his friends gasp, and the head that went in for the strike woozily regarded the fresh lump on its crown before roaring in unmitigated fury. Meanwhile, his two clones were now climbing up two of the necks with difficulty as Twilight cowered for a moment, then got upright and eyed the now-impassable gap before her.

"Aww, for Pete's sake!", he complained.

Pinkie shuddered briefly. "G-G-G-Guys! You have to jump!"

Twilight was hesitant. "I'll never make it!"

"You'll be fine!"

"I will not!"

"We won't be either if that hydra gets us!", Chronicle said as his first clone was chomped and dissipated by one of its heads as it added a bellow that turned into a quadraphonic yell. "My copies won't be able to hold it off much longer. While I can certainly deal with this guy, I still have you to worry about."

Pinkie shuddered. "It's your o-o-only ho-o-ope!" The trapped ponies took one more look over the precipice as the hydra closed in, one of its heads snagging Chronicle's second copy and hurling him right where the rest were, dissipating into in a series of twinkles. "You have to take a leap of faith!"

"Go!", Chronicle said. "I'll hold the hydra off for as long as I can! Once you're safe, I can go all out!"

After one very last quick glance, Twilight swallowed so hard enough she would've sent a brick down her gullet if she were chewing on one, backed up a few steps, then galloped as her bodyguard stopped some of the heads with a panel barrier, but missed the others as one of them descended.

It bashed the clifftop loose just as she poised herself, and she was forced to jump clear while it starts to tumble away. "No!" As Chronicle risked a look back, he saw her sail toward the first unbroken pillar, only to comes up well short of the flat and begin a hoof-flailing plummet.

Immediately, as his friends' eyes popped and jaws slacked, Chronicle broke off from defending against the hydra and jumped after his charge, although it was too late for him to catch her. Just then, he and Twilight noticed a large bubble has begun to grow at the surface. _Don't tell me…_

Twilight realized it too. "Oh, no! NOOOOOO!" She landed spreadeagle on the bubble, which hurled her upward and then burst— "Whooooaaaa!" —causing her to land on the first intact pillar, from which she bounced to the second and then into a rock face on the far side. As she wound up sitting against it on her haunches, all the sense knocked out of her, while the others eyed her worriedly, Chronicle continued falling down to the bog.

By instinct, he did what he always did whenever he fell; teleporte. As Twilight shook herself back to normal and gave her friends a big squeaky grin, getting a round of cheers and leaving the hydra to pout by itself across the way, Chronicle emerged from his teleport and landed on top of her. Before he could get off, Pinkie lay a king-size hug on the two.

"I knew you could do it, Twilight!"

"Now why didn't I just ask her to do this in the first place?", the stallion in the group grumbled to himself as Pinkie let go. "Oh well, at least Mystic hasn't won his bet yet." _But why didn't Twilight? Another side effect of the Resilience Potion, perhaps? _

"I don't know how it happened.", his charge said. "Coincidence, dumb luck, or what. But you said there'd be a doozy here at Froggy Bottom Bog, and I'd say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy. I mean, that hydra…" She cut herself off when the pink prognosticator's face went slack and the rest of her started jittering all over again. "Pinkie?"

She stopped shuddering. "That wasn't it."

"Huh?" The shuddering started again.

"What wasn't what?", asked Spike as Pinkie stopped again.

"What are you talkin' about, Pink?", Applejack wanted to know.

"The hydra wasn't the doozy." Everyone turned to the hydra, which stomped away, one head blowing a raspberry.

Pinkie's tremor kicked in again. "I'm still getting the shudders!" Her quaking moan stopped when they did. "You see? There it is again! Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn't happened."

"Huh? But I—" Twilight was furious and was slowly losing it. —what?! "The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozy-er than that?!

"Dunno, but it just wasn't it."

"In case you don't know, a doozy is something outstanding or unique of its kind.", Chronicle decided to explain. "And I'm sure while hydra attacks are rare, they can happen to anyone who enters this bog, or any other hydra territory."

The terminally frustrated violet unicorn scrunched her face in a silent growl and gave voice to it. Her mental teakettle sang in an insanely high register for an unbearable moment—and then she completely lost it with an unhinged snarl and a huge vertical leap. Her entire body went bone-white, her eyes blazed red, and her mane and tail went up in flames, giving her an uncanny resemblance to some other unicorn (not unicorn pony) Chronicle was familiar with, one that—to everyone's surprise—absolutely terrified him. (5)

"RAPIDASH!", he squeaked like a filly as he zipped right underneath Fluttershy, cowering there while the others recoiled before Twilight's glare, which lasted nearly four seconds before it burned itself out, leaving her hanging, with soot all over her normally-colored body and her mane and tail a half-burned shambles.

Finally, his charge gave a weary sigh, "I give up." She then dropped to the ledge, all the burn marks instantly vanishing (perhaps another side effect of the Resilience Potion, or what happens after whatever just happened to her) when Spike crossed to her.

"Give what up, Twi?", Spike asked as Pinkie started shuddering again.

"The fight…I can't fight it anymore. I don't understand how, why, or what. But Pinkie Sense somehow…makes sense. I don't see how it does, but it just does! Just because I don't understand, doesn't mean it's not true."

"Y-Y-You mean you b-b-believe?", Pinkie asked.

"Yep. I guess I do."

The tremors then intensified, then gave way to a quick succession of cartoonish contortions that stretched the pink body in ways it was surely never meant to go. When they stopped, Pinkie was left standing perfectly normal and motionless.

"Oh!" Pinkie then looked herself over and gasped. "That was it! That's the doozy!" Twilight and Spike gaped at her, the latter shaking his head clear.

"What?", Twilight asked as she crossed to her. "What is?"

"You believing! I never expected that to happen! That was the doozy!" She then gave off a laugh. "Oh, and oh, what a doozy of a doozy it was!"

"Are ye sure that was the doozy?", Applejack asked. "If anythin', I'd say Chronicle screamin' like a filly and hidin' like that was the doozy." She gestured to him, who was still shivering with Fluttershy on top of him.

Everyone walked over to the cowering bodyguard, then Spike poked his flank. Immediately, he jolted up, shoving Fluttershy into the air, who hovered right after he landed, looking real unhinged. "Wha—is it over?!"

"What's over?", asked Pinkie.

"Twilight's mane turning into fire! Is it over?!"

"Yes, I think it's over.", his charge answered and the stallion gave a sigh of relief.

"Wait! Is fire your phobia, Chronicle?!", Pinkie asked as she got up close.

"Can't be.", Spike argued as Fluttershy landed right next to him. "I've been breathing fire in his presence for quite a while and he didn't so much as shudder those times."

"Spike's right." Chronicle confessed. "I got a more specific fear than just fire. You see, one of the phobias you've just discovered is that I'm afraid of being who have fire coming out of their bodies, with the exclusion of phoenixes and fire breathers like Spike."

"Oh."

"And one more thing; let's keep what happened between us, okay? Please? I'll never hear the end of it I get found out."

"Okey-dokey-lokey." Pinkie.

"All right." Applejack.

"Okay." Spike and Fluttershy.

"Of course.", Twilight.

"Thank you very much."

They then walked along the cliff back to Ponyville, Pinkie singing to herself all the way as the others stared incredulously at her.

"Umm…Chronicle?", Fluttershy asked.

"Hmm?"

"Who or what is Rapidash?"

"That? Somepony I met who occasionally pulls off what Twilight just did back when she was a charge of mine, minus the rage.", he fibbed. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay."

C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP

The next day…

As Spike made his way to the library, presumably after finishing whatever business Twilight sent him off to (or seeing Rarity, or both), he heard voices laughing upon opening the door and peeking in.

"Oh, good, Spike.", Twilight said. "You're here. Take a letter."

He stepped into the reading room and toward a quill and scroll set up on a stand. "With pleasure, Twilight." He picked them up, ready to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia…" Instead of jotting the words, Spike looked ahead with a suddenly puzzled stare. "I'm happy to report that…" She then realized that her assistant wasn't writing as usual. "Spike. What have I been saying about focus?" She tapped a hoof against the floor to emphasize the point.

"I know, but I…well…"

"What's wrong, Spike?", she asked with a smile. "Never thought you'd see me with an umbrella hat on?" Indeed she was, which was the Chronicle had given to her after he took it after Pinkie dropped it yesterday.

"Not really, no."

Twilight looked to her side. "Pinkie's tail's a-twitchin'." Indeed it was as the pink earth pony stood beside her. "What else can I do?"

"Stay indoors, remember to look up, watch your step while you walk…", Chronicle suggested, about to put on a similar hat, but colored in blue like his own coat.

The two mares shared a laugh and the two boys joined in after a moment, Spike continuing well after the others have gone silent and the tail has quit. A gentle nudge from Twilight's hoof helped him focus on the problem at hand, and he began to write.

Twilight dictated, "I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them." She turned to Pinkie. "And sometimes, it takes a friend to show you the way."

Pinkie touched Twilight's nose and said. "Honk!" And Spike wrote it down.

"Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"You know, if we hadn't gone to Froggy Bottom Bog, Twilight wouldn't have admitted that Pinkie Sense was real, which would have made her right about it in the first place.", Chronicle remarked. "The again, that would mean that…" His irises shrunk in horror. "Fluttershy would've been probably left to the mercy of the Hydra, which in turn might've been a doozy depending on what might have happened."

The two mares shuddered for a moment before resuming their smiles and trotting out. Chronicle followed for a while before Pinkie stopped short when her tail went off. "There it goes again!", she said.

"I wonder what's gonna drop out of the sky this time.", Twilight asked.

"You never know." The two mares walked off, Chronicle turning to go around the library to his training range when he heard a loud thump, which had been heralded by a loud whistling sound. He turned around to see Spike having opened a window, about to send the letter to Princess Celestia when she landed on the balcony railing, nearly breaking the entire platform loose from the tree.

"Twitchy tail?", Spike asked.

"Well, I'll be…", Chronicle remarked as Celestia took the scroll in her mouth, and lifted off at a much more comfortable rate of speed. Both boys gaped up after her, flabbergasted that Pinkie's last prediction has come true in such an extreme way.

"Holy guacamole!"

Immediately, the stallion set aside thoughts of his training and took off after Twilight and Pinkie, catching them in his sights. "Girls! You won't believe what just happened!"

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Notes:  
(1)Y I decided to leave Gummy's origins unsaid just in case the writers on the show make up something.  
(2) I wanted toon physics to be limited to just Pinkie Pie, so I decided to put up an explanation to Twilight having them apply to her as well at least for this episode (or chapter).  
(3) I decided to skip the first and second shot of the bog as it held little immediate plot relevance to the chapter as far as I can tell.  
4. About my character's sudden heart attack, this sort of thing will happen again soon, though not exactly a heart attack. It's something of Chronicle's that he has because of an indirect exposure to the Elements of Harmony.  
5. Everyone's got to have a weakness, including the battle-loving Chronicle. He's also got one other phobia, but I'll reveal it much later in the story, provided I get that far.

See ya on Third!


	13. Chapter 12: Call of the Cutie

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity (not appearing this chapter), Blue Diary, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper. Happy New Year!

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 12: Call of the Cutie**

In Chronicle's dreams…

He was doing a practice duel with Blue Diary, who hovered above the ground holding two short swords with the use of red bands around his front hooves. These weren't ordinary swords however. These were the Justice and Retribution, Blue's personal weapons. They are capable of manifesting energies that can shapeshift into any form he desires.

And Chronicle was seeing it in action as Blue created red-colored extensions from his swords and swung them around the dreamscape. The blue unicorn deftly evaded each slash and parried a few with his own "horn blade".

Slowly, he closed the distance and swung his blade at Blue's body, only for a red force field to appear and repel it. From what Chronicle could observe, it came from the swords. The pegasus noticed and his "sword-extensions" then turned into grabbing appendages which tried to get Chronicle.

However, the unicorn used his dreamscape to his advantage. After realizing that Blue was visiting him and not the other way around, Chronicle 'created' a stepping stone, jumped on it, then off it as he reached his brother and punched him only to be parried by a sword, then shoved down to the ground by one of the grabbing appendages. The appendage then grabbed him by the neck.

Blue then turned his other sword's aura into a long sharp point and thrust it down at his brother, stopping short of his head. "You still got quite a ways to go before you can beat me." He then dismissed his swords' auras, letting go of Chronicle as he got up.

"No need to remind me." In spite of it being many days ago, Chronicle was still sore from his defeat to Gilda. He hasn't mastered enough offensive tactics against flying opponents yet.

"Oh, I got some bad news to relay.", Blue said as he landed in front of his brother.

"Fire away."

"It's about our uncle Reversi, a.k.a. Othello."

"Othello's his pony name or Reversi?"

"I'm not kidding here. He's dead."

"Oh…wait, WHAT?! Since when?!"

"Two days ago."

"Which Equestria was he assigned to again?"

"The Inferno Blaze Equestria, which is degrees 'darker' than my own." Inferno Blaze Equestria is an Equestria where, like in Luna Equestria, Celestia has become an evil overlord akin to the Tyrant Sun Corona. However, the bearers of the Elements weren't Trixie and co. but alternate versions of Chronicle's friends.

"Whyever was our uncle assigned there?!"

"Come on. You know how hardcore he actually is."

"Right. …If I may ask, what finally…put him down."

"Inferno Blaze eventually decided 'to heck with it all' and burnt the entire world to the ground. He didn't stand a chance. He didn't even put up a fight. He didn't even know what was coming to him."

Both mare-faced stallions lowered their heads in a moment of silence. "Poor Reversi. He was a great uncle."

"Yeah. He was always a great guy. Giving us our faorite treats whenever he visited, all those cool uncle stuff before we all had to leave and embark on our years-long missions to our respective Equestrias."

"We all knew the risks of being a field operative, and not even a seeming sugar world lowered that risk. If anything, it made it potentially greater as we would have our guards lowered."

"Yeah. Thanks for telling me."

"Well, it turns out that he had left a will for all of us." Blue then procured two small books and balanced them in his hooves. One was named "Cupcakes", and the other "Rainbow Factory". "We're supposed to read these as soon as possible. Don't be fooled by the covers, though. They're grimdark as f***."

"Wow. Really?"

"You do remember what Equestria I was talking about, right?", Blue said as he tossed the books to Chronicle, who 'caught' them both in his telekinetic aura.

"Oh, right. Wait. How are you able to deliver these when we are dreaming? Because books aren't known to have too many details in dreams."

"You'll find them in your hammerspace once you wake up."

"Okay."

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

A few days later, daytime…

Chronicle (well, a magical clone of his) made himself discreet as he speedily and stealthily made his way to the schoolhouse. The facility sported a playground, flagpole, and bell tower, as well as a sign by the front walk that displayed a picture of an open book and two rearing fillies. Near the entrance was a filly-shaped topiary; a similar ornament topped the flagpole.

He reached a window, then poked his head up to watch what was going on inside. Inside, he could see nine foals, Apple Bloom among them, in a single large classroom. They at on their haunches at separate desks, and some have placed their saddlebags alongside on the floor.

He couldn't hear what anypony was saying, so he got down, and 'summoned' the "monitor" for his Surveillance. Unlike the real one, the magical clone cannot open a "rift" to "hammerspace" and instead 'conjures' items just like regular unicorns do when they take items from their "magicspace".

He perused through the icons and tapped a yellow square, which now opened to reveal that he had placed a 'camera' on Bloom. During their return trip from Appleloosa to Ponyville, Applejack had asked him if he could set a camera on her sister, as she worried about her safety. He agreed to it, but only if she agreed to a condition he's put, which applies to all of whom he watches; whatever secrets he discovers through the 'cameras', he cannot tell to anyone; if they want to find out, it mustn't be through him. He will still watch over her and tell if Bloom gets lost or is in danger, but he won't pass any secrets.

Through Bloom's camera, as he looked at the chalkboard, amidst the schoolfoal chatter, just as he noted the magnetic permeability symbol (the Greek letter Mu) there, he saw somepony walk in front of the class. It was an earth pony mare with a dark red-violet coat, green eyes, curly two-tone reddish-pink hair, and a cutie mark consisting of three smiling daisies. From what he recalled, her name was Cheerilee.

"Let's quiet down, please.", she called the attention of the class. "We have a very important lesson to get to." The talking stopped and she turned toward an easel set up by the front desk and chalkboard. "Thank you. Today we are going to be talking about cutie marks." The schoolteacher then nipped the top sheet in her teeth and pulled it away, revealing several designs. He recognized ones belonging to Bon Bon, Golden Harvest, Parasol, Amethyst Star, Sea Swirl, Merry May, and Lemon Hearts.

"Boring.", his 'camera' caught, but it didn't come from Bloom. The "screen" revealed the speaker to be a pink earth pony filly, with violet/white hair, light blue eyes, and a not-impressed look. Her cutie mark depicted a tiara and she wore a similar item on her head. Appropriately, her name was Diamond Tiara. She also stood next to Bloom, who threw her an annoyed look.

"You can all see my cutie mark, can't you?", Cheerilee continued as Bloom came up with a pencil in her teeth, ready to take notes. She then nudged the sheet off the easel with her head. "Like all ponies, I wasn't born with a cutie mark." The new page showed two photographs tacked to it. One partially covered the other and depicted Cheerilee as a filly with no cutie mark. "My flank was blank."

Another of the foals spoke up. "Awww, she's so precious!" The 'camera' turned to see a white earth pony filly with curly red hair and large blue-framed glasses. He also noticed that she spoke with a pronounced lisp.

Cheerilee now had a pointer in her teeth as she resumed speaking. "Then one day, when I was about your age, I woke up to find that a cutie mark had appeared."

With it, she pushed the first photo away to expose the second: herself as a younger mare, with teased-out mane and tail, black/white checkered bandana, neon bracelets on one foreleg, and a leg warmer on one rear leg. She also had braces, star barrettes in her mane, and her cutie mark was indeed there.

_Gah!_, Chronicle "yelped" upon seeing the picture as he had his camera quickly turn away. _They had the eighties too here? Although it's probably named differently in Equestria…_ When the camera stopped turning, it centered on the other filly beside Bloom other than Diamond.

This one was grinning at the ridiculous picture on the easel. She had a gray coat, a two-tone mane/tail in lighter shades of this color, and light-blue-framed glasses framing violet eyes. She also wore a pearl necklace and kept her mane in braids. If he remembered correctly, her name was Silver Spoon, and she had such as her cutie mark, which had a heart-shaped tip.

"Look at her hair!", she said in a stuck-up voice before laughing, followed by the whole class.

Back in the classroom, Cheerilee rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know, but honestly, that's how everypony was wearing their mane back then."

_Glad I wasn't around at that time._

"I had decided to become a teacher, and the flowers symbolized my hope that I could help my future students bloom if I nurtured them with knowledge." Bloom continued to take notes. "The smiles represented the cheer I hoped to bring to my little ponies while they were learning.", Cheerilee continued. "Now, can anyone tell me when a pony gets his or her cutie mark?"

A hoof belonging to the filly with the lisp shot up. "Oh! Oh! Oh! When she discovers that certain something that makes her special."

"That's right, Twist." the schoolteacher replied as she circled to stand behind the desk. "A cutie mark appears on a pony's flank when he or she finds that certain something that makes them different from every other pony. Discovering what makes you unique isn't something that happens overnight. And no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging will make a cutie mark appear before its time."

Right after hearing that, Chronicle turned the "monitor" away, lost in thought as he looked at his own cutie mark; an orange circle depicting an open book inside, the emblem of his organization the Story Crew. _Hmm…I wonder what my cutie mark would've been if I was born and raised here?_ He pondered on his past life prior to his mission, but from what he could remember at the moment, he couldn't relate them to a book inside an orange circle. _Apparently, the principle that applies to ponies when it comes to their cutie marks is different for those not native to this world like me. I'm sure all the other Equestrias my family's in follow the same rule._

"Apple Bloom!", he suddenly heard Cheerilee's voice from the "monitor". He looked back to see that Diamond had passed a folded paper and the yellow filly was about to pick it up. "Are you passing a note?"

Bloom dropped it as her teacher approached her. "Uh…um…"

"What could be so important that it couldn't wait until after class?" She directed her eye to the floor with a little gasp. As it turned out, when it came to the note… "It's blank!"

As she aimed a disapproving stare at the yellow filly, the 'camera' turned to face the note-passer, who laughed nastily, her voice marking her as a snob from head to hooves. "Remind you of anypony?", she teased.

Silver joined in the laugh as Bloom looked unhappily at her own unmarked hindquarters and all the other students whispered and stared at her.

_Great…more bullies._, grumbled Chronicle. _And young ones too. There's no way I can deal with them like I deal with other bullies without getting a bad reputation from their parents._

C—AB—C—T—DT—SS—C—AB—C—T—DT—SS

Later…

Chronicle (the clone) waited out the door and watched as the bell rang and the students headed out the door. After seeing Dinky leave with a white, light-blue haired, lavender-eyed pegasus filly named Cotton Cloudy (who had a cutie mark of a blue cumulus cloud), Twist hopped merrily along the walk, while Bloom lagged dejectedly behind for a moment, toting her saddlebags. Twist, like Bloom, didn't have a cutie mark.

"Want some sweets?", the lisped pony asked Bloom. "I've got some peppermint sticks. I made them myself."

Bloom just shook her head. "Mmm-mmm."

Twist continued to coax her as they both stopped. "They'll make you smile."

"No."

She looked back the way she came and saw Diamond and Silver walking along.

"I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark.", Diamond complained. "I mean, waiting for your cutie mark is so last week." They have pulled even with Bloom and Twist and Silver waggled her rump smugly for Bloom to glare at. "You've got yours…" She showed off hers for "…I just got mine." They then walked past… "We all have them already." …before gasping and doubling back. "I mean, **almost** all of us have them already." The bespectacled white filly glowered silently at the showoff, who circled around with Silver. "Don't worry, you two. You're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera this weekend."

"It's going to be amazing.", Silver said.

"It's a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark. How could it not be?"

The two the proceeded to do a special shake. "Bump," They tapped one front hoof together—Diamond's right, Silver's left—while standing on the opposite hind leg. "Bump," Then, they stood on both hind legs and tapped both front hooves together. "Sugar lump—" Diamond's left hock and Silver's right one touched. "—Rump!" They finished by putting their rumps together so that their cutie marks were framed next to each other.

Their giggles contrasted markedly with Bloom's disgusted expression. "Gimme a break.", she grumbled under her breath as Diamond and Silver walked off.

"See you this weekend…", Silver called, then she and Diamond giggled, "…blank-flanks!" There came more derisive laughter, leaving the pair discomfited.

_Man, I hate little bullies._, Chronicle grumbled. _While I'm not above hurting children, I'm more concerned on how others would treat me if I did and they found out._

C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS

Meanwhile, at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…

The real Chronicle was beside his co-teacher Mystic Shield as they conducted yet another class. As usual, some who were present before (like Heartstrings and Pokey Pierce) were absent and those who were absent were now present. Also, his charge Twilight Sparkle was here, deciding to learn as well, and also because she won the small bet she made with Mystic; to not teleport for three weeks since he asked.

"All right, class.", Mystic called, still thinking he sounded like a schoolteacher. "Time to test your barriers. Let's start with Greatstone, Comet Tail, Holly Dash, and Twilight Sparkle." Immediately, the students not mentioned moved aside, leaving the four as they positioned themselves in line. Well, Twilight didn't at first, but she moved into place soon enough. "Now, Chronicle, test them if you will. And this time, exert more power for those whose shields withstand your attack without a crack."

The blue stallion nodded as he approached the four students. "Each shots will have the same power exerted into them.", he said, then turned to his charge. "And Twilight, I will not go easy on you." He then flared his horn and fired a shuriken-shaped shot at Greatstone's barrier. The shot hit, and the barrier held, its conjurer not so much as changing expression. Chronicle proceeded with Comet next and the shot hit, making him wince as the barrier shattered. Holly was next, and she winced as the barrier made a crack. As for Twilight, she concentrated immensely with her eyes closed as the shot hit and the barrier held.

"All right. Holly Dash, nice work. Comet Tail, **concentrate**. Now the two of you take two steps back." They did as he said. "Chronicle, continue."

Before he could do just that, the doors creaked open, revealing Derpy Hooves and Dinky.

"Sorry I'm late!", the unicorn filly called. "I had school."

"It's okay.", said Mystic. "Now stand with the rest of the class, please." Dinky did as he told. "Umm…the rest of the class is over there." As it turned out, Dinky had stood with the four he called earlier. Dinky made a sheepish smile before joining the rest of the unicorns. Mystic turned to his co-teacher and gestured him to carry on.

Chronicle nodded before charging up another shot. This time, while the shuriken-shape that emerged was the same as before, it was a bit brighter, and more…solid. The shot struck Greatstone's barrier and he winced just a bit while it held. Another shot hit Twilight's shield, its caster still concentrating immensely.

The blue stallion fired again, with greater intensity. With each stronger shot, Mystic noticed that Greatstone was straining himself more and more, while Twilight maintained the same stance and focus. Eventually, Chronicle decided to up it a notch and did a burst-fire version of the shot, releasing three "shurikens" at once at Greatstone. All of them hit his barrier and it made great cracks as he strained a lot from the attack. As for Twilight, her concentration remained the same and the barrier still held.

Mystic frowned at Chronicle for this sudden change of pace, but decided to let it by and evaluated his students, "Greatstone, in spite of that great crack, you did well. Twilight, wow. That was a very powerful shield, although you could use some guidance in going easy so as not to use more magic than is needed." _I wonder if it runs in the family?_

C—TS—D—MS–G–CT—HD—C—TS—D—MS–G–CT—HD

At a street in Ponyville…

Applejack had set up an apple cart, ready to sell. From what the Chronicle copy could see as he looked for something that was advertized on the Request Board, She and Apple Bloom each wore a white apron. While the latter had an apple balanced on her head, the former was calling out to the crowd.

"Get your delicious, nutritious apples here!"

"Delicious and nutritious, and so many uses!", Bloom advertized. With a toss of her head, she flipped the apple upward, caught it in her mouth, and started chewing. "You can eat 'em…" She then addressed Golden Harvest and Shoeshine. "…play with 'em…"

Grabbing another one from the nearest tub in her teeth, she threw it into the air and smacked it with a tennis racquet, which wound up a sopping, pulpy mess.

A distant crash came later and a voice yelled, "Hey! Watch it!"

A third apple went airborne and before it landed, Bloom kicked it backward. "…create fine art for your home with 'em…" Ponet, who was about to start painting a picture, had his creativity rudely interrupted when the apple splattered against his canvas. He caught some of the mess on his nose and glared at Bloom when she zipped over. "…you'd have to be crazy not to get a bushel of your very own!"

"Or if you're a carrot farmer.", Shoeshine mumbled, turning to the orange mare.

"Right.", Carrot Top agreed with a slight bitter look as she saw Applejack pull her little sister back by the bow. From her experience, carrots turned bitter when stored with apples. She fancied herself as a rival to Apple family, even though she doesn't earn as much as them. In fact, her farm, Golden Harvests, which she runs together with her father, was a fair distance from theirs.

Applejack laughed apologetically to the crowd. "She's so creative.", she said.

Just then, as he searched stall after stall for what he was looking for, Chronicle noticed Doctor Whooves pass by. "You, sir!", Bloom said as she rushed ahead and cut him off. "Care to buy some apples?"

"Uh, no, thanks."

Bloom popped out from a produce cart to cut him off again. "Why not?"

The Doctor began to back away nervously. "I have plenty at home." He then suddenly bumped into something and he turned around to see Bloom there.

"Are you sure?"

The Doctor walked forward. "Yes, I'm pretty sure." She cut him off yet again and slowly backed him up toward the apple cart.

"You're pretty sure, but you're not absolutely, positively, completely, super-duper sure, are you?"

The Doctor was beginning to sweat buckets before this onslaught. "Uh, if I buy some apples, will you please leave me alone?"

Bloom brightened instantly. "All right!"

After a quick bit of fishing around, he produced several coins, threw them into Applejack's apron pocket, then bolted away with an apple in his teeth.

"You forgot your change!" Applejack called after him.

"Woo-hoo!", Bloom whooped. "That's how you sell some apples and get a cutie mark!" These last words puzzled her older sister a fair bit. She turned to see her circling in place, her head cocked back over her shoulder to see if any new decorations have popped up farther back.

"So, what does my cutie mark look like? A shoppin' bag full of apples? A satisfied customer eating an apple?" She stopped after a while, noticing the area to be still blank, and crossed to Berry Punch, who was looking over a tub of apples placed on the ground. "Hmmm…maybe I gotta increase my sales figures first." She looked Berry dead in the eye. "You touch it, you buy it! We take cash or credit."

This declaration came with enough force to push the prospective customer back in a fright. Applejack stepped in, "I'm sorry, ma'am." But the mare already bailed out. "Ma'am!" With a frustrated little sigh, she turned around. "Now, Apple Bloom, you can't just—"

On the end of this, Bloom was emptying a tub of apples into a saddlebag worn by Bon Bon. "That'll be four bits."

The mare glared down at her. "I didn't put those in my bag!"

"Likely story. Four bits, lady!"

Applejack shoved a hoof over her sister's mouth. "Apple Bloom!" She turned to Bon Bon. "I am really, really sorry 'bout that. She's new." She dumped in several apples on the saddlebag not stuffed with apples. "Here. Take these. No charge." Applejack pointed to another load. "And these." Those go in, but Bon Bon still didn't seem satisfied—so Applejack pulled out another tub. "And these."

"Bon Bon!", Chronicle called out as he came over, a familiar cat 'in tow'. "Ebony just ran away again. And since you seem to be headed home, mind if I come with you?"

"Sure. And maybe you could help me with these?", Bon Bon asked as Applejack hoisted a tub of apples on her head and dropped it on the two-tone haired mare's back, causing her to nearly collapse under the total weight.

"Maybe…" Chronicle then got suspicious as he approached her. "Wait, did you buy all that?"

"Yes.", The two-tone haired mare flatly replied.

"Do you **need** all of that?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because there's no way you can turn all of those apples into candy, not that I know how you make them. Or eat them all in a few days without getting tired of them, even with Lyra's help."

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to get to?"

Chronicle got closer, made a look at Applejack that told her not to cut in, and replied in a hushed tone, "What I'm saying is that this isn't necessary."

"What do you want me to do?", Bon Bon whispered. "That little filly just basically scammed me."

"But does it validate taking **all** of Applejack's wares?"

Bon Bon seemed to ponder on this for a while, even as the apples should've been weighing her down, but thankfully weren't since Chronicle was 'lifting' them a bit to reduce the stress on her body. "…No, I guess not." She then turned to Applejack. "I'll just take the bucket."

The farmpony nodded, gave Bloom a harsh stare, then they began taking off Bon Bon's saddlebags and unloading the apples back into the tubs. Once that was done, they returned Bon Bon's saddlebags on her back and she walked away, Chronicle beside her as he was supposed to return Ebony—whom he still 'carried'—back to Lyra.

Applejack called after Bon Bon, "Y'all come back now, you hear?"

"Not in a long while so long as that filly is in the stands.", Bon Bon muttered.

"You don't have to worry about that.", Chronicle said as he 'set down' Ebony inside Bon Bon's saddlebag. "From what I've been observing, that'll be Bloom's only day."

"Okay." Bon Bon decided to change the subject. "Say, why don't you check out Sweet Treats?"

"Let me guess, that's your shop?"

"Uh-huh."

"Sure thing."

C—BB—A—AB—DW–C—BB—A—AB—DW—C—BB—A—AB—DW

Meanwhile, in Mystic Shield's dojo…

"You really don't know how to go easy, do you?", said Mystic Shield.

As it was, Twilight Sparkle had shot a medium-length beam at a target, making a small burn at where it hit—the center. "Sorry, Mystic Shield."

"That's **Master** Shield to you, Twilight Sparkle.", the teacher sternly replied before relaxing. "As long as we're in class, you shall address me as such."

"Yes, Master Shield."

"Good. Lemon Hearts, you're next." Twilight made her way to where the other students were standing as Lemon stepped forward. The yellow unicorn charged her horn and 'launched' an arrow-shaped shot, which mildly surprised the bearer of the Element of Magic, and hit the target. "Nice work, though you could improve a bit more on power."

"Wow. I had no idea magic shots can come in all shapes and sizes.", remarked the studious unicorn.

"Really, this is news for me too.", Chronicle remarked as Written Script was next. His quill-shaped shot hit the target spot on.

"You're improving.", evaluated Mystic. "Dinky, show us what you can do."

As the unicorn filly stepped up, Twilight seemed to worry a bit and voiced her concern to her bodyguard. "I still can't believe Mys—uhh, Master Shield's letting fillies take his classes, too."

"Dinky's the only one so far. Others haven't been as willing to send their foals here yet, mostly due to violence potential. Dinky's only in because she wanted to and Derpy gave her a-okay."

"Wonderful work, Dinky!", said Mystic. "I've never seen such accuracy in such a young age!"

Dinky, having made many bulls-eyes in a row, turned to her teacher and beamed. Suddenly, a spot of light flashed briefly somewhere on her body, and everypony gasped. Once it was over, Dinky turned to look at—

"I'm gonna tell Mom the good news!", Amethyst Star cried out as she made her way out of the dojo.

"Wait—", Mystic cried out, but she was already gone. "Oh well." He sighed as he gave a smile. "It's not every day that this sort of thing happens in the middle of class. Dinky, I think you deserve a break. Class, let's continue."

C—TS—LH—AS—D—MS–WS—C—TS—LH—AS—D—MS–WS

Back with the Chronicle clone…

After acquiring the reward for returning Ebony…again, Chronicle returned to Applejack's cart to see that her entire inventory was now gone. Apple Bloom was looking at her sister as if not know what she did wrong while he was gone.

"What?"

"Sorry, little sis, but your apple-sellin' days are over!" Applejack then pulled at Bloom's apron in her teeth and took it off.

"What?! But how else am I gonna get my cutie mark?", she argued as she yanked it back.

"Home!" The older sister stamped a hoof. "Now!" The failed salesfilly spat the apron away with a pout and whine and Applejack gave a sigh. "Listen, sugarcube. I know it's hard to wait for your very own cutie mark, but you just can't force it. Besides, you're not that grown-up just yet. Ain't there other fillies in your class without one?"

"Well…Twist doesn't have hers yet."

"There's also Dinky.", suggested Chronicle. "Daughter of the mailmare Derpy Hooves. Thankfully not as clumsy as her mother."

"Do you think you'd feel better if you went to the party with either of them?", Applejack asked.

Bloom gave a smile. "Mmm-hmm."

"Well, there you go! Bet you and Twist and/or Dinky would have a great time together." Bloom started to hurry off and Chronicle decided to follow. "Now run along and find your friend."

Just then, the yellow filly stopped. "You're sure you don't want me to stick around 'til the end of the market?"

"Hey! Who's been usin' my racquet?", a male voice called out. The three turned and observed with worry an earth pony stallion with a light tan coat, dark blue eyes, dark brown hair with mustache and sideburns (which greatly confused Chronicle), a red headband that held his mane back, a blue/white sweatband on one foreleg, yellow-white shorts that hid his tennis ball cutie mark, and prominent tufts of hair on his chest. As it was, he was the owner of the tennis racquet Bloom used a couple of minutes ago and he was not amused.

Applejack answered her sister, "Yeah. I'm sure."

"You've been a bad filly.", the blue unicorn said. "That guy's Ace, tennis champion. You won't be getting any tennis-related cutie marks anytime soon."

C—A—AB—A–C—A—AB—A–C—A—AB—A

A while later…

Chronicle followed Bloom to the herb/flower shop which was tended to by Daisy, Rose, and Lily, but they weren't around right now. Bloom trotted to the front door and knocked. Its top half opened and Twist looked out, noticing her classmate after a moment. When she spoke, Chronicle noticed that her tone was somewhat less cheerful than when they met after school, though she was still smiling.

"Oh. What's up, Apple Bloom?"

Bloom was occasionally glancing back at her rump as she spoke. "So I was thinkin', maybe we could go to Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera together. I don't have a cutie mark, you don't have a cutie mark."

Twist was uneasy at this. "Well, um…" She ducked down and hit the latch on the door's lower half. It swung open to expose two things: a suddenly self-satisfied grin, and a mint-condition cutie mark of two crossed candy canes. Bloom stared pop-eyed with a gasp as Twist brightened considerably as she walked past. "Isn't my cutie mark swell? I've always loved making my own savory sweets, but it took me some time to discover that it was my super-special talent. Pretty sweet, huh?"

If Bloom's spirits were low before, they were now perhaps five feet beneath her hooves as she sat on her rump in front of the shop door. "Yeah. Pretty…sweet."

Twist tried to console her friend. "Hey, this doesn't mean we can't go to the cute-ceañera together." It was at that moment that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon crossed behind her. "You're still gonna come to the party, aren't you?"

"Of course she will.", said the pink earth pony filly.

"It's not like being the only pony there without a cutie mark will be, like…" Silver made a contemptuous laugh. "…the most embarrassing thing ever."

Those last five words caused the little filly's cheeks to burn red with shame, and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying as the stuck-up pair's nasty laughter drifted over.

"Hey, lighten up, there's still Dinky.", Chronicle tried to console her. _I hope…_

C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - Apple Bloom looking dejected. Zoom in on her blank flank, where the show's logo fades into view.

C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS—C—AB—T—DT—SS

Back at Mystic Shield's dojo…

Unfortunately for the Chronicle clone, Dinky was a blank-flank no more either.

"I'm so proud of you, my little muffin!", Derpy said as she spun around in the air, holding her little unicorn daughter, who was beaming in pride of her cutie mark; a golden bow and arrow, which represented her skill in masterful precision.

All the unicorns around them cheered for this moment, including Mystic Shield. Twilight Sparkle was also awed at this incident, but she said nothing.

This celebration lasted for a full minute before Mystic decided to clear his throat. "A-he-hem." Everypony stopped and turned to face him. "While I appreciate this sentimental and not-at-all-common moment, is it rude for me to ask for class to continue?"

"No, not at all.", Derpy said, then turned to Dinky. "Why didn't you tell me you were taking his classes?"

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I know how you've always been there for me, and well…I wanted to be able to protect you too when the time comes."

Dinky's mom hugged her tighter. "Oh, Dinky." Mystic cleared his throat again to catch their attention as the others already got into position. "Sorry." Derpy set her daughter down.

"Okay. Miss Hooves, if you don't need to get back to work…"

"Oh, right! I still got some more letters to deliver! See you later, Dinky, Sparkler!" She then flew out, only to bump into the door first before finally leaving without problems.

"Sparkler?", Twilight asked.

Amethyst Star answered, "That's Mom's nickname for me."

"I can't help but think she looks too young to be your mother."

"Hasn't adoption crossed your mind?", Chronicle asked his charge.

"Oh, right."

C—TS—DH—D—MS–C—TS—DH—D—MS–C—TS—DH—D—MS

Elsewhere…

Apple Bloom sat glumly by a well amid a cluster of houses in Ponyville, Chronicle's clone watched from a short distance. Derpy had passed by a while ago, looking real happy and singing to herself that Dinky's got her cutie mark. Of course, this set the yellow filly's spirits deeper. Just then, Rainbow Dash poked her head into view from above.

"Whoa.", the pegasus said. "Looks like somepony's got a dark cloud hanging over her head." Indeed, there was a dark cloud directly overhead—a sizable one, to be exact. Why Chronicle didn't move it was because it wasn't rumbling any lightning. "Let me do something about that." Rainbow bulldozed it away and descended to the ground. "What's the matter, kid?"

Bloom stood up, sucked in a huge breath, and started to spill her guts, not literally thankfully. "There's a cute-ceañera this afternoon and everypony in my class'll be there and they'll all have their cutie marks and I wanna get my cutie mark but I'm no good at sellin' apples but I really wanna go to the party but how can I go to the party if I don't have my cutie mark which my big sister says I'm gonna get eventually but…" She then went into full whine mode. "…I WANT IT NOOOWWW!"

The pegasus did not even skip a beat in the face of this phonetic onslaught. "Cutie mark? I can get you a cutie mark like that!" At the end of this, she snapped her tail out straight and revealed her own.

"Applejack says these things take time. I have to just wait for it to happen."

"Why wait for something to happen when you can make it happen?"

"But…Applejack says that…"

"Hey, who are you gonna listen to? Applejack, or the pony who was first in her class to get a cutie mark?"

"You were the first in class?", Chronicle asked as Rainbow flexed her wings, and bounded over Bloom.

"I always liked flying and all, but I was going nowhere in a hurry. It wasn't until my very first race that I discovered a serious need for speed. And ka-zam!" She showed off her flank and went into a crouch. "This sweet baby appeared as fast as lightning." She then took off, leaving a certain yellow filly to gaze up in admiration.

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

A while later…

The clone Chronicle watched as Bloom, wearing a headband with her bow, did push-ups in the grass while Rainbow hovered behind her, having put on a headband and hung a whistle around her neck.

"That's right!", the pegasus was saying. "Stretch out those legs! Gotta be nice and loose! The key here is to try as many things as possible, as quickly as possible. One of 'em is bound to lead to your cutie mark."

"Or at least among those things, find something that you like.", Chronicle added. "If you like it, it's probably your calling and you keep at that activity until your mark appears."

Rainbow didn't seem to mind his interruption. "Are you ready?"

Bloom straightened up and replied, "I'm ready!"

"I said, are you ready?!"

Bloom reared up. "I'm ready!"

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

"Juggling! Go!"

There was a blow of the whistle, as Bloom stood on one hind leg, juggling several balls from a nearby basket. She did well for a few seconds before losing her balance and belly-flopping into the grass, the balls bouncing off her head and back.

"This doesn't sound like a good idea.", Chronicle quipped.

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

At the end of a cliff…

"Hang gliding! Go!"

Another whistle and Bloom—now sporting an old-style aviator's leather helmet and goggles—started into a sprint with a glider on her back. After several dozen yards however, she tripped and started to tumble head over tail. "Whoa!" She slid to an upside-down stop just short of the cliff, with one corner of the glider hanging over the edge and Rainbow throwing her a slightly disgusted look.

Chronicle just grumbled and said. "Let's try this again."

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

After a lot of failed attempts…

"Karate! Go!"

They were now in a karate dojo, no connection to Mystic Shield's, with Rainbow clad in a martial-arts training uniform—and a black belt (unsurprisingly) to boot—and Bloom similarly clad, and without the headband, but with a white belt (naturally). Chronicle hadn't put any uniform on as he was a magical clone, with the real him still in Mystic Shield's academy.

At the sound of the whistle, Bloom took off with a flying kick, yelling out something appropriate for the martial art. One rear hoof connected squarely with a heavy bag, but it did not move; instead, Bloom's face instantly froze into an expression of incredible silent pain. She hung motionless for a second before thudding to the floor.

_So that's how they learn karate._ Chronicle then turned to Rainbow and asked, "Say, you mentioned Fluttershy taking karate classes, right?"

"No. I mentioned it was Rarity, as it turns out when I asked the sensei, but yes, Fluttershy does take a few."

"Ah." _Really?_

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

In a meadow…

"Kite flying! Go!"

Having ditched their uniforms, and with Bloom back in her blue headband, the latter stood with a with a kite made of leaves lying behind her, its spool of line in her teeth. The two blue older ponies watched from a safe distance.

At the sound of the whistle, The earth pony filly began to gallop, letting the line play out as the kite started to gain altitude. All too soon, though, it took a few deranged loops before nose-diving straight to the ground. The novice kite-flyer watched wide-eyed as all the leaves crumpled off the branch framework.

"Seriously?", Chronicle asked his friend. "What about kite-fighting or something more intense?"

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

"Ultra Pony Roller Derby! Go!"

The two blue ponies stood on a small table on the infield of a roller rink. As the whistle sounded once more, they watched a crash-helmeted Bloom scramble by on skates with three tough-looking fillies in pursuit. She looked fearfully back just in time to see them growl at her, then pitched forward with a scream and tumbled out of control. The other three slammed on the brakes, but too late. There was a collision and the four skaters now lay in a semiconscious tangle at one corner of the rink. Bloom recovered quick, extricated herself, and rolled slowly away, red-faced and grinning as best she can.

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

"Target practice! Go!"

And Bloom, with a barrier cast around her and wearing a red-and-white target on her flank, ran into the fray at the start of the whistle as magic shots of all shapes and sizes (well, shaped at least) tried to hit her. The barrier cast around her was very small, enough to tuck her tail and bow within its bounds.

Left and right she strafed for two minutes, her shield taking a few hits along the way, until a voice called to stop. The onslaught of magical blasts ceased and Bloom stopped moving as well.

"Tell me again how you convinced me this was a good idea.", Mystic Shield decided to ask, having given the order.

As it was, they were at his dojo, and Bloom was suggested to play as a moving target for his students to shoot at. They have been absolutely assured them that Mystic—who was the one who put up the barrier—won't let her come to harm. Of course, some of them didn't want to take part, among them Twilight Sparkle, who was vehemently against the idea.

"I haven't a clue.", Chronicle, the real one, shrugged his shoulders, having dismissed his clone.

"Oh wait. I just remembered.", one of the students said. "There's a cute-ceañera taking place at Sugarcube Corner!"

"Oh, I gotta prepare my little sister for it!"

"Me too!"

And the conversation soon devolved into discussion for that oncoming party. Mystic Shield sighed at the lost attention and decided to declare, "Class dismissed." And as one, nearly every unicorn left the dojo, leaving himself, Chronicle, his charge, Rainbow Dash, and Apple Bloom. "Ugh…this inconsistent schedule is killing me."

"Well, if you'd like, I can offer you tips in keeping—", Twilight began.

"Yes, you told me about maintaining a rigid and consistent schedule and all that, but while I think it may fit with your job as librarian and student of Princess Celestia, I also have my students' livelihoods to consider. While you somehow maintain an orderly schedule that also factors in your interaction with your **few** friends—not that that's bad or anything—I, on the other hoof, have to factor in all of my students' 'timetables' so I can maximize the…umm…how do you say it…"

"Maximize the total hours you spend teaching your students what you know?", Chronicle put in.

"Yes. That and the bits I earn each day from each of them or their parents or guardians."

"Well, we better get going.", Rainbow interrupted. "Still got some more activities to do." She and Bloom—who ditched the target she wore—then took off, followed by Chronicle, leaving Twilight and Mystic in the dojo.

C—TS—RD—MS—AB—C—TS—RD—MS—AB—C—TS—RD—MS—AB

Later…

After a lot more activities, the three were now lounging under a tree that was a few feet from Carousel Boutique. While Rainbow was consulting a checklist, Chronicle was doing a few practice swings with his "magic horn blade" on some falling leaves, failing miserably to slice them in half.

"Tried that one…tried that one…tried that one…", he heard his pegasus friend say. Just then, the sound of young laughter caught his and Bloom's attention. He paused to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking past, the former having a large, wrapped box on her back.

"Your new outfit is like, perfect for the party.", Silver said as Bloom gasped in fright and dove behind a bush.

"I know. It totally shows off my new cutie mark.", Diamond replied as they walked past the tree where they were resting, ignoring or not noticing the death glare Chronicle was giving them.

"I love being special."

"Can you imagine how embarrassing it must be to be…not special? "

Silver sighed with contempt. "I don't even want to, like, think about it."

_And if there's one thing I also don't like about them, it's Silver's excessive use of the word 'like'._, Chronicle grumbled as they walked out of sight. _It's irritating to no end._

Then, as Rainbow continued to check the list, Bloom climbed out of the bush and lamented, "I'm doomed! Doomed! I'll never find somethin' I'm good at!" She then dropped her head with a pathetic little whimper before Pinkie Pie poked in.

"You look like you'd be good at eating cupcakes.", Pinkie suggested.

Bloom gave a smile. "Eatin' cupcakes?"

Rainbow was a mite confused, "Eating cupcakes?"

Chronicle however seemed to be on edge. "C-c-c-c-c-c-cupcakes?"

Pinkie jumped in place and replied in a sing-song manner, "Eating cupcakes!"

As she then hopped away, Bloom turned to the polychromatic-haired pegasus. "I really appreciate all your help, Rainbow Dash." She then slowly backed off "You're a really great coach and I've really learned a lot from you, and I'm sure I could learn a lot more, but…I've got some cupcakes to eat!" She then dashed after Pinkie. "See you at the cute-ceañera! Hold on, Pinkie Pie! I'm comin'!"

"I better go too, just in case.", Chronicle told Rainbow before following.

"The word 'cupcakes' seemed to have a negative vibe on you.", she said to him and he was forced to stop. "May I ask why?"

"Two words: Baked bads."

"Those were muffins."

"Still. That, and also because of a horrible nightmare."

"Why would you have a nightmare about cupcakes?"

"I don't wanna talk about it, okay. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm have to make sure Apple Bloom doesn't fall into trouble."

C—RD—PP—AB—DT—SS—C—RD—PP—AB—DT—SS

The reason behind Chronicle's cringing on the word "cupcakes" is because of the "Cupcakes" book Blue Diary gave him days ago in his dreams.

In that story, Pinkie Pie invited Rainbow Dash to her bakery and offered her a drugged cupcake. After eating the drugged confection, Rainbow woke up some time later strapped to a table in a darkened room decorated up like a party, but in place of streamers and balloons are blood, bones and body parts. Pinkie, wearing a dress made from pony flesh and a necklace of unicorn horns, revealed that she had killed many other ponies and then told Rainbow Dash that "her number came up" before proceeding to slowly and brutally mutilate her in graphic detail, eventually killing her. Othello was absolutely horrified in finding out this side of Pinkie and had to…put her down when he came next.

Chronicle has been on edge upon hearing "cupcakes" or "rainbow factory" ever since.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

Chronicle shook that horrible memory off of his head as he frantically followed the high-spirited Bloom into the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner from a back door outside. He considered doing a background check on Pinkie later using Surveillance, but then remembered his promise and the consequences of breaking it. He then shook that off, telling himself that his Pinkie Pie wold never to such a thing, although he'll have to keep his guard up.

His continued pondering was interrupted by hearing Bloom say, "I can't believe I didn't think of this." As they entered, Chronicle watched Pinkie set a muffin tin on the counter. "A cupcake-eatin' cutie mark! It's so obvious!" Bloom then began to zip about, looking in drawers, cabinets, and even the oven. "Now, where are those cupcakes? I'm ready to chow down!"

"I don't have any cupcakes.", Pinkie said, triggering something in Chronicle's mind as he continued to listen, stay still, and get ready for anything.

"Oh."

Pinkie then gasped sharply as she then went and plunked a chef's hat on Bloom's head. "But you look like you'd be good at helping me **make** some!"

Bloom sounded uncertain as a light mandolin/tambourine melody began to play. Fast 4, D major. "I guess a "making-cupcakes" cutie mark could work too."

C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB—C—RD—AB

In a completely different, non-pony world…

Music: (www . youtube watch? v=aYAGB11YrSs)

_Now Playing: Sandviches!_

In a RED base somewhere, the Engineer walked over to the Heavy, who had his back turned to him as he tended to Sasha.

"Heavy…", the Engineer asked and he turned to face him. "How do I make sandvich?" The hardhat-wearing guy produced one in a plate at the end of this in demonstration right after.

**[screen mode]**

{Heavy leans into view of from the right, singing in a booming voice and over-emphasis of the lyrics. The plate disappears from Engineer's hold, who begins to bob his arms up and down as he makes a wide open-mouth grin of enthusiasm, which he retains for the entire song. The Heavy then sumps some flour into a mixing bowl.}

_All you have to do is take a cup of flour! Add it to the mix!_

{Heavy then moves off screen and Engineer pops up as a chocolate bar, a steak, and a paprika bottle fly, the first into the bowl, and the other two over it. Heavy shows a salt container to Engineer's right, then comes up to his face as the Engineer made an even bigger open-mouth smile.}

_Now just take a little something sweet, not sour! A bit of salt, just a pinch!_

{Heavy moves over to a cabinet and opens it while Engineer keeps his smile going. Cut to close-up of Heavy's face as he then leans back to show a teaspoon (and the rest of his body).}

_Making these treats is such a cinch! Add a teaspoon of bologna!_

{View of the bowl as if the camera was on its rim as Heavy continues to sing, Engineer puts his upper jaw onto the rim opposite to the camera, and four small, disc-shaped pieces of bologna. Scene cuts to another where Heavy bends down with his neck elongated to prove his point, then raises his arms to the ceiling.}

_Add a little more and you count to four, and you never get your fill of…_

{Heavy pulls up a plate with a "sandvich" as a wheel transition pattern of white-and-pink is behind him; Heavy tilts his head to it as it sits on his open palm.}

_Sandvich! So moist and delicious!_

{Same backdrop as before, but with Heavy showing the "sandvich" to Engineer; close up of Heavy's eyes.}

_Sandvich! I'm coming for you!_

{Same scene as before where Heavy pulls up the "sandvich" on a plate.}

_Sandvich!_

{Scene of the "sandvich" and the Heavy; then the "sandvich" at its plate alone; then finally a from-table view of the singing Heavy as he stretches his arms out to the "sandvich" and the enthusiastic Engineer as the food item sits there.}

_Sandvich! Sandvich! Sandvich!_

_End Song_

{Heavy went into an akimbo position and Engineer retains his enthusiastic look. Camera then zooms past them and right at the face of an exasperated Scout as he holds his bat.}

**[screen mode]**

"This did not just happen!", Scout exclaimed.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

Back in Equestria (Prime)…

Chronicle was busy cleaning up the mess that had resulted from the attempt to make cupcakes. Apple Bloom was running the electric mixer, there was batter everywhere, and he was splattered in places with it. He then saw her leave it at the sound of a buzzer elsewhere. Grumbling, he walked over to the mixer, looked for the power switch, then 'flipped' it so that it would slow down and not spill too much batter.

_I've seen cleaner bakery kitchens…_, he grumbled as he organized the counter. While he was far from being a clean freak like Rarity, he tolerates messiness as much as the next average Joe—and indeed he knew of one pony with that name—, not too much.

He then quickly went over to Bloom as she stood in front of the oven and pulled open the door handle with her teeth. Black smoke came from the oven and she slipped, knocking over a bag of flour, causing her to cough. She then grabbed a potholder in her teeth to pull the cupcakes out. Her eyes popped in sudden pain, presumably from the heat.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!", she exclaimed as she spat out the tin and let her tongue hang out.

Pinkie and Chronicle went and stood over the results, which were a set of burnt-black treats. "Ooh!", the pink earth pony said. "Those look much better than the last batch."

"Considering the ones before these, I can't tell if you're being sincere or not.", snarked the sole unicorn as Pinkie took a big crunchy bite out of one, crumbs adhering to her bulging cheeks. _And I know sarcasm is a foreign concept to you._ He and Bloom watched in total disbelief. He then cringed as Bloom tried to follow Pinkie's example, only to spit it out.

Bloom was obviously crushed. "Guess I'm not cut out to be a baker either." She then gave a moan. "I just have to face it. I'm gonna have a blank flank forever."

"Now don't fret too much. I think being too impatient in finding your cutie mark is what's not letting you find it."

"What about that?", Pinkie asked as she pointed at a white patch on Bloom's flank, whose red-gold eyes bugged out and turned back to it.

"What about what?", the filly asked as she circled in place, her chef hat falling off. "Is there something on my flank? Is there? Is there? Is there?" She rushed to an overturned metal bowl on the floor, angled herself to show the spot's reflection clearly, and gasped happily. "A cutie mark! It's a…a measurin' cup? No. A mixin' bowl? No. Are those cupcakes? A tower of cupcakes, maybe."

Pinkie decided to blow over the white patch, causing it to disappear. "Flour! It's flour!", she exclaimed as she jumped up and down. "Yay! I guessed it! What game do you want to play next? Please say bingo, please say bingo."

Only Chronicle noticed the devastating effect that her action has had on Bloom and they were all caught off guard by the next voice.

"Whoa!" They all turned to see Twilight Sparkle at the kitchen door. "What's been going on in here?"

Pinkie slid over to her, with a tray of burned cupcakes on her head. "We've been making cupcakes. Want to try one?"

"No, thank you. Not that they don't look…" The unicorn mare forced a grin. "…delicious." Chronicle "pfft"ed in response.

"Twilight!", Bloom cried out. "You have to help me!"

"What's the matter?"

For the second time, the little pony got a good lungful of air, but before she could tell the tale, Chronicle cut in and began to say it for her in rapid fire, but not as fast as Bloom had done. "Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera is today and everypony in her class'll be there. They all got their cutie marks and she wants to get hers, but she's no good at selling apples or hang gliding or making cupcakes. She wants to go to the party, but cannot go without a cutie mark, which she can't make appear but wants it to regardless."

"RIIIIGHT NOOOOW!", Bloom finished.

Like Rainbow, Twilight had managed to hold her ground and her composure through her bodyguard's verbal torrent. "Uh…I don't follow. How can I help her?" Chronicle smacked himself in the face from his failure to get the message across.

"You can use your magic to make my cutie mark appear!"

"Oh, no, Apple Bloom. A cutie mark is something that a pony has to discover for herself."

"Please, Twilight. Just try."

"I'm sorry, but—"

Bloom started to fidget, grabbing Twilight's chest. "Oh, please, please, please, please, please!"

Left with no choice, Twilight conceded, "All right, all right!"

Bloom backed up. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The multi-talented unicorn then fired up her horn and hit the right spot with a blast. A cart filled with apples appeared. "YES! I knew you could do…" Her tone changed as she saw it vanish. "…it."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But I told you—"

"Try again, try again!"

With the classic sigh that was the precursor of an "I told you so", Twilight followed orders. This time, she conjured up a kite mark, which also faded out. This was followed by three cupcakes, a teddy bear, a tricycle, and so on. Bloom was gradually showing increasing dejection as flash after flash hit her with increasing speed. The final failed attempt was a trio of footballs, after which she voiced a little gasp and Twilight lifted her head clear.

"Told you that not even magic can make a cutie mark appear before its time."

Suddenly, Chronicle had an idea as he lighted up. "Oh wait! There is another way!"

"Really?!", asked the two females.

"But you'll eventually have to try and actually live up to it or explain why it has changed after you **really** get your cutie mark."

"Why?", Bloom wanted to know.

"Two words. Flank stickers."

At this, Twilight frowned. "Those things?"

"Uh-huh. Sometimes, my charge may not want my presence for certain reasons but may need them. So along with some hair dye, special body paint, and even fake eyelashes, I use flank stickers to disguise myself when shrouding myself in clothes isn't enough." _And it's not as easy as you think it is._

"May I see one?", Bloom asked. "Please, please, please!"

"Unfortunately, I don't have any." This set Bloom's spirits down.

"Then why did you even bring it up if you don't have them?", Twilight scolded.

"It was only until all this cutie mark-searching did I remember them. And that I'll need to get more from the Canterlot black market."

"You go to the black market?!"

"Sometimes. I keep away from the very shady ones though."

"It's hopeless. Hopeless!", Bloom lamented, interrupting their argument as she walked slowly to the shop floor, Chronicle following her. "I just won't go to the party. I can't go! Everyone will just laugh at me and make fun of me and call me names. It will be the worst night of my life."

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that.", Twilight assured, putting her argument with Chronicle behind her for the moment.

"I'm sure it will be now that you said that.", her bodyguard snarked.

"Forget it.", said Bloom. "There's no way I'm goin' to that…" She stopped short upon seeing the shop floor filled with mares and fillies, presents and sweets stacked up on the tables, and the whole place tricked out for a soiree. She gave a hard gulp. "…party?"

C—TS—PP—AB—C—TS—PP—AB—C—TS—PP—AB

Eyecatch (video-type)

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=lDaPTRGMZz4)

{Eight cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: seven bubbles, a lyre, a trio of wrapped candies, a bundle of three carrots, a grape and strawberry, a trio of brilliant-cut diamonds, an hourglass, and another hourglass.}

{The eight cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting two rows of eight ponies. The top row depicts (from left to right) Amethyst Star, Minuette, Doctor Whooves, and Berry Punch. The bottom row depicts Bon Bon, Heartstrings, Derpy Hooves, and Golden Harvest. The show's logo shows up on the center.}

C—TS—PP—AB—C—TS—PP—AB—C—TS—PP—AB

Chronicle took the time to analyze his surroundings after remembering the event taking place here. He heard music and happy chatter. He then heard the sound of somepony spitting out something, then turned to see that one of them had tried Apple Bloom's failed cupcakes. He turned another way and saw Diamond Tiara strutting her stuff, wearing an outfit that consisting of a white-polka-dotted pink saddle with blue and pink edging and a frilly white collar, which ironically covered her cutie mark. Silver Spoon, who was alongside, wore a pink/blue saddle with yellow/light-green edging and a blue collar accentuated by a yellow flower. He could even see Twist getting into the spirit, leaving Bloom to sit by a chocolate filly sculpture, which she hid behind.

"How could I have forgotten the time?", she lamented as Chronicle stood right next. "How could I have forgotten Pinkie Pie was hostin' the party? How could I have forgotten it was at Sugarcube Corner?"

Pinkie popped in and set a party hat on their heads. "Don't forget your party hat…Forgetty Forgetterson!" She then hopped away as Bloom took off her hat.

The yellow filly then zipped from a sculpture to hide behind a cake. "I have to get out of here before anypony sees me."

As a couple of late arrivals strolled in, Snails walked over to the cake and took a huge bite, making a big enough hole to leave Bloom in view…as well as get a reprimand from Diamond.

"Hey!", she yelled as she get into his face. "It's **my** cute-ceañera! I'm supposed to get the first bite of cake!"

The yellow filly took advantage of the distraction to get away from the table and onto another one, with Chronicle providing himself as cover. Next, she dove behind a bunch of balloons, but then a dancing Pokey Pierce started to pop them with his horn. She quickly made a break for it and began to work her way in between tables and guests, eventually reaching one with punch bowl.

"Okay, Apple Bloom.", she told herself as she saw the open exit door ahead. "Almost there." Lifting the table on her back, she tiptoed gingerly down the home stretch, stopping twice so as not to draw attention while Chronicle walked with it. On the second stop, he greeted Berry Punch, who looked around and ignored him before slurping directly from the bowl, ignoring the provided cups.

Chronicle could only give a confused look as the table soon moved again and approached the doormat. Bloom then emerged and happily headed out, with Chronicle following, only for them to run flat into Applejack.

"Apple Bloom! You made it!", she cheered as she walked in, pushing Bloom back, forcing Chronicle to follow. "After I heard about Twist, I was afraid you wouldn't show up. Sure am glad you came to your senses about this whole cutie mark thing." All the while, she hasn't noticed her sister's profuse sweating and scrabbling to get past her and out the door. "These things happen when these things are supposed to happen. Tryin' to rush it'll just drive you crazy." She finally stopped. "I'll let you be. Looks like your friends want to talk to you."

"Which friends?", asked Chronicle as she and he walked off, then turned to see Diamond and Silver, who were clearly relishing the moment. Chronicle then turned to the farmpony and said, "Seriously? You think those two are her friends?"

"Why wouldn't they be?", Applejack asked as her little sister yanked the cloth off another table holding a punch bowl, then knot it into a makeshift dress.

"Listen to the conversation carefully." He turned his and her head to the three earth pony fillies as they began to converse. "Observe the tone of the voices of your sister's 'friends'. Do they sound even the slightest bit friendly to you? Hmm?" He made sure to say his words slow and clear to make certain he's got the message across. "I've seen Cheerilee act useless as well since during class she didn't stop the teasing and mocking going on in her classroom that was directed towards your sister. Ponyville's school system **clearly** has not instituted a zero-tolerance policy on bullying."

"Wait a sec! You've been stalkin' my sister while she's in class?!" Chronicle smacked himself since Applejack apparently missed the point.

"Hey, you asked me to!" He was given a leer from Applejack. "Okay, maybe I ended up making you misinterpret my message, but…I also wanted to see how schools in Ponyville are like." He didn't tell the truth about not learning the cutie mark lesson by virtue of not being born in Equestria.

"Are they that different from those in Canterlot and all those other places you've been?"

"Very."

Just then, they saw Bloom saunter away from whom Applejack called her friends, only to have her "dress" get snagged on one of the nails of the floorboards, After a moment's straining against the snag, she ripped free of it and toppled forward headfirst. Instead of going out the door, though, she banged into a table next to it that held a manually-cranked phonograph. The loud scratch of the needle being knocked off the record elicited a gasp from the rest of the crowd, followed by stunned silence as a smirking Diamond and Silver zip over as they saw Bloom's blank hide, out there for all to see.

The two "friends" began to laugh as Bloom pulled a face that showed that she was screwed.

"Oh, wow, that is an amazing cutie mark.", Silver mocked before laughing again.

"Nice try…", teased Diamond before being joined in by her friend. "…blank flank!"

As she found herself on the receiving end of more mockery and a soft chant of "blank flank", Chronicle gave an "What did I tell you?" look at Applejack.

Suddenly, a brash young female voice spoke up. "You got a problem with blank flanks?", it said.

There were stunned gasps from the entire crowd, two of whom backed away to expose a pair of fillies hiding under a table behind them.

The speaker was an orange pegasus with a deep pink, unruly mane/tail and vivid violet eyes. Her companion was a unicorn, nearly the same gray-tinged white color as Rarity, light green eyes and a curly mane/tail in pastel pink and violet. Both were roughly Bloom's age…and Chronicle recognized them as the two fillies who cowered under a table with Bloom during the night Nightmare Moon appeared.

"I said, you got a problem with blank flanks?", repeated the pegasus filly.

"The problem is, I mean, she's, like, totally not special.", Silver replied.

The unicorn filly's voice carried a higher pitch than her companion, but her vexation gave it the same edge. "No…" The two then trotted to stand in so that Bloom was now in between them. "…it means she's full of potential."

"It means she could be great at anything.", said the pegasus. "The possibilities are, like, endless." The last words were said mockingly in valley girl style.

For some reason, Chronicle could see the crowd was dumbstruck. "She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer. She could even be Mayor of Ponyville someday!"

"And she's not stuck being stuck-up like you two." Said two took this very badly, but the rest of the bunch got a good laugh out of it.

"Hey! This is my party.", retorted Diamond. "Why are you two on her side?

"Because…" The two then presented their profiles, rump to rump, revealing themselves as "blank-flanks" as well.

Bloom gasped at the sight—or lack of one, in this case. "You don't have your cutie marks either? I thought I was the only one!"

"We thought we were the only two.", said the pegasus as Chronicle then saw Twilight walk up.

"I, for one, think you are three very lucky fillies.", his charge said.

"Lucky?", Diamond gasped in a disrespectful manner as Silver let her tongue hang out in disgust. "How can they be lucky?"

Twilight gave a mild look of disgust, then game a smile. "They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they're meant to be."

Applejack then walked over, accompanied by Chronicle. "And they've got all the time in the world to figure it out, not just an afternoon."

"And you better watch your tongue.", the bodyguard stated as he gave a stern look. "You do know who you're taking to, right?" He raised an eyebrow at the end of this. Already, Bloom found herself the center of attention from several others in her age group.

"Wow, Apple Bloom! I wish I could be a scientist.", one said.

"Do you really think you could be Mayor?", said another.

"Maybe I got my cutie mark too soon.", spoke a third.

It then soon became prevalent that the focus of the crowd has shifted away from Diamond and onto the trio. The two fillies with the overstuffed egos found themselves standing alone with Chronicle still staring down at them.

"Hey, what's everypony doing?", Diamond was complaining, looking past the mare-faced stallion. "This is **my** party. Everypony's supposed to be paying attention to **me**!"

"Whatever.", Silver said, trying to save face, and apparently ignoring Chronicle in front of them "We still think you're losers—right, Diamond Tiara?" She then started into their special shake routine from before, but quickly lost steam as she noticed that Diamond was having no part of it. "Bump, bump, sugar…lump…"

"Not now, Silver Spoon."

"You do know I'm standing right here, right?", Chronicle said, but they ignored him and clomped away. "Huh… why do some ponies do that sometimes with me around?"

He turned back to the trio of blank-flanks. "Name's Scootaloo.", he heard the pegasus introduce herself.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle.", said the unicorn.

"Apple Bloom.", the yellow earth pony filly stated.

Chronicle turned a while to see Diamond and Silver now up on the stairs and watching the proceedings with no enjoyment whatsoever while The music and the festivities resume.

"This song is so super!", Twist was saying as she jumped up and down.

Chronicle grumbled as he 'picked up' a cup and got some punch, watching the other guests enjoy themselves. As he eyes his two friends clinking cups of punch held in their teeth and drink a toast, he grumbled again from the farmpony's obliviousness to the fact that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were bullies.

He then walked over to the table where the three new friends were gathered, bypassing Snails taking a bite of a properly prepared cupcake.

"So I was thinkin'.", Bloom was saying as the stallion stood behind them in a watchful manner. "Now that we're friends…I mean, we are friends, right?"

"How could we not be? We're totally alike.", said Scootaloo, seemingly cool with the adult pony in their view. "We don't have cutie marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy—"

"Totally crazy!", Sweetie corrected and they all laughed at the end of that.

"Well, now that we're friends, what if the three of us work together to find out who we are and what we're supposed to be?"

"Ooh, ooh! We could form our own secret society!", Sweetie suggested.

_Secret society, my flank._, Chronicle thought to himself. _More like a simple group and nothing else._

"I'm liking this idea!", Scootaloo agreed.

"A secret society! Yeah!", Bloom was game for this. "We'll need a name for it, though."

"The Cutie Mark Three?", suggested Scootaloo.

"The Cute-tastically Fantastics?" Sweetie.

"How about…the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Bloom.

Scootaloo agreed with this. "It's perfect!"

So did Sweetie. "This is gonna be so great!"

"We're gonna be unstoppable!", Bloom said.

Using her nose, Scootaloo retrieved a cupcake from the nearest counter and deposited it on the table. "What do you say we celebrate with some of these delicious cupcakes?" Before she could dig in though, Bloom hurriedly stopped her from doing so.

"Not the cupcakes! Trust me."

"Seriously.", agreed Chronicle. "She tried baking some an hour ago. The results were…something only Pinkie Pie can appreciate."

"Let's see if there are any cookies!", Sweetie suggested two seconds after he was done talking.

Bloom agreed, "Yeah!"

And so did Scootaloo. "Come on!"

As they headed across the room, Chronicle stood as watched as the newly minted Crusaders had their fun. Scootaloo had a cookie in her teeth and flipped it upward, intending to catch it upon landing, only for it to land on her forehead and break. The other two laughed at the sight, and she shakes herself clean and offered a sheepish smile.

As they began to dance around, soon joined by Twist, the mare-faced stallion thought, _This'll make for a good friendship report. I better tell Twilight later._

C—TS—A—PP—AB—T—DT—SS—SB—S

_"Dearest Princess Celestia: I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are."_

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

nightelf37: I replaced the "Cupcakes" song sequence with the fan-made "Sandviches" sequence because it's too confusing to script Pinkie's actions. Besides, I also wanted to do a random intermission. See ya on Third!


	14. (NOT) Chapter 20: Green Isn't Your Color

Pinkie Pie: Hey, I thought this was _Green Isn't Your Color_!

nightelf37: While that was supposed to be the case, Pinkie Pie, I couldn't find too much scenarios for Chronicle to take part in. Besides, it's a fashion show episode. While it does contain my best pony, there's little he could do there. I will make references to what he did during that time, though.

Pinkie: Won't you be tricking your readers with the title?

nightelf37: Astute ones would be able to tell from the word count. Besides, I added a "(NOT)", so they would be able to tell from the get-go.

Pinkie: Okie-dokie-lokie!

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield (not appearing in this chapter), Timerity, Blue Diary, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Special 1: About the Story Crew**

In the dreamscape…

Chronicle, his sister Timerity, and his brother Blue Diary stood together in front of a recording camera.

"Do we really have to do this?", complained the female as she fidgeted about.

"Yes.", Blue answered. "It's for our catalyst so people can know a bit more about what is it we do."

"But I hate talking in Fourth Wall!" She then gave a sigh. "But I guess I'll have to…" She then took out a pair of shades and put them on, in spite of the fact that they wouldn't stick to her face as her ears are above the arms of the eyewear. "…deal with it."

Blue rolled his eyes and groaned, "That is a lame way pull off that line, sister."

"Camera's about to roll.", Chronicle told them. "We should begin."

"Right." The three siblings then gathered together so that the camera can see all of them, with Chronicle's siblings between him.

"Greetings, 'readers'. My name is Timmy Timer, but in here I'm called Chronicle."

His sister was next. "And I'm Tabitha Timer, but I'm called Timerity by my friends."

Their brother was last. "And I'm Crais Timer, a.k.a. Blue Diary."

"And we're here to tell about the Story Crew.", the three spoke in unison.

They paused for a while, then Timerity spoke up. "Man, this sounds like we're in a talk show or something. I'm never watching "_Shelldor Koopa presents Fun With Frags_" ever again. We have to warn you a bit though that we won't be able to answer all of your questions due to our rank and role in it, which we'll get to later."

"Just what is the Story Crew?", Blue asked the camera. "For starters, you got your animé, comic books, films, live action shows, plays, video games, cartoons, and all things fictional, including the fan works based on all of the above."

"Well, all of those things are actually real.", Timerity provided. "As real as the computer you're using to…read this chapter even as we speak. Just not in a place your civilization will have any access to in the near future. If you ever played the video game series titled _Kingdom Hearts_, let's say a portion of what you see there is the reality of the universe."

"In case you're wondering where do series that take place in outer space or in several worlds like _Star Wars_, _Starcraft_, _Star Trek_, _Battlestar Galactica_, _Babylon 5_, _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, and the like fit into this—"

"Wow. Many of those galaxy setting works are of the sci-fi genre.", Chronicle interrupted, getting a smack from his brother's wing.

"Don't cut in, Chronicle, while I'm still speaking." Blue then turned back to the camera. "Anyway, in those 'works', they take place in light speed proximity to where we are stationed. However, thanks to us, these star systems never interact with one another."

"Now, the Story Crew visits various worlds and sends down agents like us. We witness or experience adventures in them—"

"And the Story Crew is lenient on that term since that includes stuff that go under the 'slice-of-life' category." The pegasus then gets smacked by Chronicle's paddle.

"Hypocrite. As I was saying, we witness or experience adventures in these worlds, and chronicle all of them—hence the alias I use. Of course, we are assisted by plenty of others, hence the scenes that take place not in our presence. Then, for some reason classified to us Field Operatives, this information is transmitted into "client worlds" like your earth and into the people you know as authors, producers, artists, scriptwriters, and the like—even fanfic writers like our catalyst here—in the form of ideas. As they do not think it is real, save for perhaps our catalyst, these creators treat these 'messages' as fiction and tell them to you as fiction. Also, the information more often than not gets garbled in translation, so there aren't that many hard facts."

"We in the Timer family are assigned to all sorts of different Equestrias.", Timerity explained. "Chronicle is assigned to _Equestria Prime_, the data of which is made into the TV show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". I am assigned to Solaris Equestria, where just about everybody there is a gender swapped version of everybody in Prime. As for Blue Diary, he is assigned to _Luna Equestria_, its data sent to the writes of the fan-made collaboration known as the Lunaverse, which can be found in the FiMFiction website, a site that exclusively My Little Pony and crossovers with it."

"You may be asking yourselves, "Hey, if what you're saying is true, why do we not see you in the shows we watch or the games we play?" or something like that.", Chronicle said. "Well, only a small proportion of worlds the Story Crew goes to actually have Field Operatives assigned to them, and a small proportion of **that** have such that directly interact with the work's protagonists like we do. And the same guys that transmit the info to the client worlds also edit the info so that no evidence of us, or those we "directly interact with", exist. Hence why there's also no trace of Mystic Shield or his first four students in your show."

"And for that reason, we who befriend the resident heroes usually try to minimize our influence in their fight against the main villains."

"Although we might sometimes go too far, like I have, hence why Nightmare Moon seems to just stand there as Twilight undergoes her speech about her friends."

Timerity grumbled from her brother's interruption, then continued. "Of course, we make sure to keep the existence of the other worlds a secret, unless those worlds already make contact with other worlds, like the House of Mouse."

"Speaking of villains, there is also a rival organization that wishes to directly interfere with "how things go" according to our higher-ups.", Blue said. "This org is called the Book Troop. Don't ask why they and our group have names related to literature, because we haven't a clue. Our groups have been rivals for ages and we always clash whenever we could. Otherwise, they, or at least their Field Operatives, follow the same code as we do."

"When their Field Ops befriend the natives, they do so with who you identify as the villains. Although there are sometimes scenarios where…say…a hero and villain are together." Timerity then 'took out' a list and began to read it. "Like when heroes and villains have to work together to defeat a greater evil, or when a hero who's destined to beat the bad guys joins them for a while, or vice-versa. In that case, we make a begrudging truce until we can try and off one another without raising too much suspicion from our allies or breaking their trust."

"The Story Crew also has 'replicas' across different universes, especially in the ones where "fan fictions" and alternate comic world timelines take place.", Blue stated. "There are also alternate versions of ourselves there in addition to more members of our extended family, where the results are different."

"Enough about that. I think we've talked too much about our organization.", Timerity said in an attempt to change the subject. "Let's talk about our family. We told them about us. Why not talk about them too?"

"As much as that would be a great idea, I'm afraid we're running out of film.", Chronicle said as he gazed at the camera's side.

"We're using **that** kind of camera?"

"Afraid so." He then tuned back to the camera. "Of course, you may think of us as just another concept of fiction made by our catalyst, but we sorta foresaw that as our higher-ups have kept our masquerade so well you wouldn't believe us even after we might stop holding it up."

"We'll have to say goodbye now. Film's running out.", Blue said.

"Oh, all right." She then turned to the camera with his brothers and they all chorused. "Goodbye!" The camera then stopped.

The pegasus turned to Chronicle. "Can we do another of these next time?"

"You were the one who suggested it, remember?"

"Right."

"And you know I'm game for making videos."

"Right. Well, see ya."

"Bye.", Timerity said. And with that, she and Blue Diary vanished back into their dreamscapes, leaving Chronicle alone in his.

"Hmm…I really should visit my siblings' dreamscapes sometime."

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

nightelf37: Sorry for not making my version of "Green Isn't Your Color" because of reasons above. I also just wanted to get this tough matter out of my chest. See ya on Third!


	15. Chapter 10: Swarm of the Century

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity and Blue Diary (not appearing in this chapter), the new character about to appear here, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 10: Swarm of the Century**

In Chronicle's dreamscape…

The blue unicorn was cautiously re-reading the "Cupcakes" book given to him by Blue Diary when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Timmy!", it came, drawn out so he could hear it.

Chronicle 'put down' his book and looked up to see a blue and brown figure descend from above. It circled for a while before putting some distance between himself and it, then turning around to approach him. Thankfully, the figure began to slow like an airplane on a runway.

Finally, upon stopping, Chronicle got a good look at this arrival, who gave a wide beam. He had the exact color scheme and appearance as him and was of the same race (a unicorn), only he definitely looked like a stallion, he looked quite older, and his hair was very sleek. He also wore goggles similar to those the Wonderbolts use, which now hung around his neck. He also had a pair of contraptions on his sides, which were currently open, revealing wings out of brown cloth/leather and a wooden frame. They also had some form of propulsion on the bottom, making the whole thing seem like airplane wings.

"Heya, little Timmy!", the supposed-cousin greeted. "Oh wait, it's Chronicle now."

And then it hit him. "Oh, Uncle Tycho.", he grumbled.

"It's Clockwork now." Clockwork's horn then glowed as he 'pushed' a button somewhere. Immediately, the wings began to fold up until all that could be seen now was a pair of wooden saddlebags. While Clockwork was a tech wiz, having made his wings himself, Chronicle excelled more in spellcasting than he did.

"I see. Why're you here?"

Clockwork pshawed. "Come on. Am I not allowed to see my favorite nephew?"

"I'm your on—" He then smacked himself in the face. "Right."

"You were gonna say 'I'm your only nephew', were you?"

"Just a slip of the tongue is all."

"Okay."Clockwork then decided to change the subject. "Say, how's Princess Celestia's student doing there?"

"Well, Twilight Sparkle can be a hassle with her work and all, but I can tolerate it. How's yours?"

"I love flying with Rainbow Dash on my wings, even though I can't catch up with her even in full speed."

"Hold on a second, **Rainbow Dash** is Celestia's student there?!"

"Yup. As far as I can tell, that's the capital difference Rainbow Equestria has over yours."

"What else is there?"

"Let's see." As Clockwork began to think, a light-bulb shape formed over his head for a second thanks to his magic. "Well, Ditzy Doo is a fillyhood friend of Rainbow Dash there while that isn't the case in yours and Blue Diary's."

"And in here she's named Derpy Hooves."

"Also, Shining Armor—"

"Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot?"

"The very same. He's Twilight Sparkle's brother."

"That's also the case in Blue Diary's Equestria. Can't say for certain if that also applies here and I won't assume that until I get an undeniable confirmation. (1) After all, Berry Punch is related to Cheerilee in Luna Equestria while I found no such relationship in here. In LUNA-EQ, Fluttershy has a stipend from her very rich parents, while in EQ-Prime, she has no such thing as far as I can coax from her."

"I see." Clockwork paused for a moment. "Wanna spar for a bit?"

"No, thank you. I'm still rusty in fights against flyers. Try Blue Diary."

"Tried that before coming here. He was effectively invincible."

"Two words: physical hits."

"That's harder than it looks. The only reason why Corona won against Blue in his fight with her was because she landed a lucky hit. That is before she would've resorted to threatening his friends. Or have found out his weakness eventually."

"Oh."

"Well, I better get ready. The fight with Nightmare Moon has only begun." Clockwork's wings then opened as he turned to leave.

"Huh?"

Clockwork turned back to Chronicle. "You're lucky yours is already done. And quickly too."

"Why is Nightmare Moon still out there in your Equestria?"

"Well, you see, my 'adventure' didn't start a couple of months ago. It just started only a few days."

"Anything I can do to help an uncle of mine?", Chronicle offered. "After all, I did face off against her for a while."

"I'm afraid not. This Nightmare Moon is far more dangerous than the one you have faced. She would've given you a harder time."

"Really? How?"

"Well, this one didn't merely have an evil laugh, she took friends of ours as hostages and turned them into Shadowbolts, and these had wing-blades to boot. She also had a mind-reading spell, and was quite liberal in her lightning."

"What about the trip to the Everfree Forest?"

"Well, after Rainbow and I took off to find Zecora, who was known to have some knowledge on the old legends, we fought off the Shadowbolts, then got into a bind where said zebra arrived in the nick of time. We then returned to the library where the others were, then soon took off to the forest again. The obstacles we encountered were a Swamp of Despair, a horde of Diamond Dogs," He then gave a shudder. "Sea ponies—"

"Sweet Celestia. Sea ponies?"

"Yes. Same thing Jenny saw back when she was a few years younger than you are now." Jenny was Chronicle's mother, who was a Field Op assigned to 'Dream Valley' in her younger days, where she had made a friend in the farm girl named Megan Williams, her siblings Molly and Danny, the pink pegasus pony Firefly, and a lot more others.

Presently, she's a Field Op in 'Equestria Alpha', where the bearers of the Elements of Harmony are reincarnations of her old pony friends, among them Firefly. From what he could think back from what she told him of them before he was assigned to 'Equestria Prime', their personalities were quite similar to that of his friends' and even their races, although there were two exceptions.

"Wow."

"They were more vicious though, but we managed to convince them not to drown us. Then they gave us a ride on a fabulous-looking river serpent. As of now, I'm sleeping on his back with the others thanks to some powder of Zecora's." Clockwork then turned around once again. "Let's see if I can coax a duel out of Cousin Rokuban before I have to wake." He then have a salute. "Wish me luck!" The 'jets' on his wings then activated, spewing out magic. Clockwork then broke off into a gallop before taking off into the black 'sky' and disappearing from sight. A twinkle followed, reminding Chronicle of some bad guys in another world the Story Crew was assigned to.

"Good luck, Uncle!" he the toned down and said to himself. "I'll have to be stronger, too. Even though Nightmare Moon is no more, there are still a lot of potential enemies."

C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C

Daytime…

In Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…

"All right, everypony. Listen up!" Mystic Shield, with bandages on his head, had all of his students (well, those he could gather anyway that weren't busy) gather in rows. He was marching like a drill sergeant all the while, but not speaking like one. "Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville tomorrow. While I'm sure no**body** would attempt anything…against her, it pays to be careful regardless, so I want you all to stay sharp and be wary of anything you're not familiar with and might cause trouble. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Master Shield.", chorused his students.

"If it looks dangerous, be aware. If it's cute, be **doubly** aware."

"Doubly aware, Master?", asked Holly Dash.

"Yes. There are those who pull the cute looks and not get suspected specifically for that reason." He then stopped in his step. "**That** is why I will never break any promise I make to Pinkie Pie ever again. Or hurt an animal in Fluttershy's presence if I can help it, intentional or otherwise."

"Is that where you got that head injury, Master?", inquired Chrono Cards.

"Only from the former. The latter had no need of a beat-up to get her point across, although I won't be able to look her in the eye for a long while."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't want anyone to experience what I had experienced when I looked into them when she talked me down."

"Is Fluttershy really capable of doing that?", asked Written Script.

"Well, there's only my word. And Chronicle's. And Twilight Sparkle's. And Rarity's. And Rainbow Dash's. And Applejack's. And Pinkie Pie's."

"Are you talking about the incident at the mountain?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." He then shook his head vigorously. "Hold on a second. I think we're getting off topic here. And by the way, you forgot to address me as **Master**, Written Script."

"Sorry, **Master** Shield."

"Well, do not repeat it. Now, everypony, what is it you should do today and tomorrow?"

"We should stay alert and make sure nothing goes wrong in Princess Celestia's visit.", Greatstone stated.

"And what else?"

"Watch out for anything dangerous, and **especially** anything cute."

"Good. Class dismissed."

And with that, everypony left, already chattering about what to do for the arrival of the Princess. That left Mystic Shield and a magic clone of Chronicle, the real one in the Books and Branches Library helping out Twilight Sparkle in fixing up the place.

"That could've gone better.", Mystic's co-teacher's clone said.

"Sorry. Still, I don't get why everypony's getting so riled up in an unofficial, casual visit."

"There's nothing casual about royalty, even if she very well wanted it to be."

"How do you know that?"

"I can tell from how she behaves after being in Canterlot for a long while. I've had many charges who've had to have an audience with the Princess. And while she never demanded respect, they always gave it like their lives depended on it. And whenever they thought they slipped up, they always profusely apologized as if she would banish them to the moon or something, even if it was something minor like spilling something on the carpet. And as far as I could tell from her during those times, she definitely isn't the type to make disproportionate retributions, though everypony treats her as such."

"So…"

"She still gives appropriate punishment for those who justifiably break conduct, although it's just the guards who deliver punishment."

C—MS—G—CC—WS—HD—C—MS—G—CC—WS—HD

Meanwhile…

The real Chronicle trotted alongside a high-strung Twilight Sparkle—leaving another magical clone with Spike to help out—as they saw the trees are now bedecked with flowers and banners. Fortunately, his charge became high-strung no more as the spectacle brought a smile to her face. As they crossed the bridge over the stream, he could see that it—and even the stream banks themselves—form just part of the decoration effort put forth by the crews of hardworking ponies.

He could see Daisy watering some tulips, Minuette pulling a banner in place, Heartstrings checking out the flowers with Apple Bumpkin and Apple Cobbler watching her, Derpy Hooves flying by, Twinkle carrying a ribbon in her mouth, Cherry Berry raking the grass, and Dizzy Twister holding another ribbon in her hooves.

The two then stopped in front of a a banner being hoisted between two poles by Golden Harvest and Berry Punch, and saw its message; "Welcome Princess Celest". From what he could see, the I in "Princess" had been dotted with a heart, and the lettering was not very neat.

Chronicle could only give a 'face hoof' as Twilight asked, "What happened to the rest of her name?

"We couldn't fit it all in.", apologized Carrot Top.

"You can't hang a banner that says "Welcome Princess Celest"! Take it down and try again."

She then galloped off, missing the double eye roll the two sent after her. Before Chronicle followed shortly after, he said, "You better do as she says. The writing also needs work." Once he caught sight of his charge, he saw her approach Bon Bon, who was watering some flowers.

"That looks perfect. Keep up the good work!", she commented before running off again, missing the smile the earth pony gave before resuming.

As he soon caught up to his charge, they were approaching Sugarcube Corner. By the time he greeted Amethyst Star, Rainbowshine, and Shoeshine with Goldengrape, they were at the door, where they saw two earth ponies at work.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How's the banquet coming?", Twilight greeted.

Mrs. (Cup) Cake was a middle-aged light blue, violet-eyed, earth pony mare with a two-tone, rose-colored mane and tail carefully styled to resemble cupcake frosting and a chubby build. She wore an apron and small pink earrings. Her cutie mark consisted of three cupcakes. She was working a rolling pin with her hooves (somehow) on a mass of dough.

Mr. (Carrot) Cake was an earth pony stallion of about the same age and a lanky build. He bore a yellow-orange coat, a short, deep orange-brown mane and tail, a square jaw, wore an apron, a red/white bow tie, and low-crowned cap, had birdcatcher spots around his nose, and a cutie mark of three cake slices. He was currently carrying an empty platter to a table.

Mrs. Cake uneasily pointed ahead. "Uh…" At the table she was indicating, virtually every food item had a bite taken out of it. "…it would be coming a little better if…" She trailed off.

There stood one large two-tier cake topped with a crown…which was swiftly disintegrated under Pinkie Pie's assault from behind. Within seconds, she has devoured the whole thing, leaving only splatters on the table, a swath of white frosting that covers the lower half of her face to resemble a full beard and mustache, and the crown on her head. Noticing the mess on her face, she licked herself clean just in time for Twilight to see the damage and freak out and for Chronicle to join her and groan.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?!", his charge exclaimed. "Those sweets are supposed to be for the Princess!"

Pinkie nervously tapped front hooves together. "I know. That's why I'm tasting them. Somepony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue!" The last few words were slightly garbled due to sticking out her tongue and showing the food still on it, an image Twilight found revolting. The sugar-rushing pink pony then reeled it in and zipped to an open area of the floor as she then spoke in a haughty tone, trotting across the floor. "And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess!"

She wound up next to an untouched cake and was about to hork it down, her crown falling off, before Twilight and Chronicle gave her a very nasty look to stop her cold.

"Next time, Pinkie, just take a small slice. Or a sample.", the bodyguard said. "Wouldn't want to deny the Princess all this delicious food, now would you?"

"Twilight! Chronicle! Pinkie!", a familiar voice called, music to his ears. As the three turned, they saw Fluttershy bound in. "You won't believe…" She skid to a stop and wound up sitting on her haunches, another moment Chronicle was going to commit to memory. "Oh. I'm sorry. I…am I interrupting?"

"No, not at all.", Pinkie replied. "Come on in and make yourself at home." Before she could lash out her tongue to grab the cake, it was 'moved' out of range by Chronicle's telekinesis and swapped for a cardboard copy that just happened to be there. The pink earth pony pulled the entire "cake" into her mouth, and swallowed it in one throat-stretching bite, not choking in the slightest. Twilight had no idea what to make of this bit of digestive idiocy. "What's going on, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy stood again. "You won't believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest. " She then addressed herself toward her mane. "Come on out, little guy. It's okay."

Peeking out with a happy little coo was a tiny critter smaller than a pony's eye. It had a spherical blue body with enormous green eyes that have no trace of scleras or pupils, two pairs of fly wings, two pairs of spindly insect legs, and a small smiling mouth. It was followed, to her considerable surprise, by a yellow, and a gray one. She gasped softly at this. "Three?"

Twilight moved closer. "They're amazing! What are they?", she asked as they flew around the pair.

"I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from."

"I'll take one off your hooves." The yellow one lighted on her foreleg and she cuddled it. "I've never seen anything so…adorable!" It flitted around her head. "Besides, it'll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won't bother me so much while I'm studying."

"Pinkie, Chronicle, do you want the others?"

While Chronicle was peeking into his "hammerspace" for some reason, its rift open right in front of his face, Pinkie stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Blecch! A parasprite?! Are you kidding?!" She then trotted past the pair.

Fluttershy was confused at this reaction. "'Ugh'?"

Twilight was too. "A para-what?"

"How could you not like—"

Pinkie, now at the door, groaned impatiently. "Now I gotta go find a trombone!"

Fluttershy, with one parasprite in her mane, and Twilight, with two on her back, traded a puzzled look, then one of the other two silently made its way to Chronicle, snuggling itself on his mane just as he 'closed' his rift.

"A what?", he asked.

"A trombone! You know…" Sitting on her haunches, she mimicked the horn's sound while moving one foreleg in and out to show the slide in motion. A moment later, she was gone, and Twilight sighed.

"Typical Pinkie.", she said as her yellow parasprite hovered up at cheek level with an affectionate coo. Suddenly, there was a zoom and a cloud of dust that bypassed them, blowing the two mares' manes a bit. Once it cleared, they turned to see where it went off to to see Chronicle leaving, then turned to where he was…only to see him there too.

"What?", the Chronicle in the store asked.

"Which one of you is the clone?", inquired Twilight.

"Does it matter?" He was the clone. "Shouldn't we head off to Carousel Boutique, anyway?"

C—TS—F—PP—MCC—MCC—C—TS—F—PP—MCC—MCC

Outside, in a Ponyville street…

Chronicle, the real one, slowed down and trotted along, looking for Pinkie Pie, before bumping into Mystic Shield. "Mystic.", he called. "Just the pony I was looking for." He added under his breath. "Aside from Pinkie."

"What seems to be the problem?", the purple unicorn asked.

"I think I got something in my mane, but I can't get it to get out. Could you cast a barrier spell on me?"

"Seriously? You want me to do something mundane with such a spell?"

"Please."

"Fine." Mystic's horn began to glow and he started the barrier somewhere in Chronicle's head. As he then expanded it, his carrot-top-blond friend shuddered a bit as the barrier pushed other things in his head before it reached the roots of his mane—and purged not one parasprite, but two. "What the hay is that?"

"Parasprites." Chronicle then caught the two critters in his aura. "In spite of how cute they look, they're very dangerous in swarms. Encountered them once before."

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_Chocolate Sun, Chronicle, and Nalego were on the run for a swarm of parasprites, the former 'carrying' a small cake. How and why he had it? The bodyguard never got the answer to that question as Nalego occasionally tossed pouches of powder that burst and caused some of them to sleep._

_"Ditch the cake!", he ordered._

_"No!", Chocolate replied._

_"I said ditch the cake!"_

_"No!"_

_"The parasprites are after that cake, not us! So drop it!"_

_"But what will I eat for dinner?!"_

_"We'll find something! Nalego won't be able to hold them off for long!" Indeed, their zebra guide was running out of pouches of sleeping powder. "Besides, the niceties and comforts you take for granted back in Canterlot won't help you in this forest! You have to let that go!"_

_Chocolate looked torn at the decision he was forced to make. "Be quick in what you choose.", Nalego suddenly spoke. "Else there be more we will lose."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?", asked the Canterlot pony._

_"It means we're nearing a cliff!"_

_And indeed they were. And with the speed they're going, if they don't turn soon, they would fall off. Eventually…_

_"All right, you pests! Take it!" And with that, Chocolate Sun decided to 'hurl' his cake over the cliff…and the parasprites naturally followed as the three equines made a turn to the right and slowed down._

_As they finally stopped, Chronicle finally said, "__**That**__ was one of the craziest chases I have ever been in." (2)  
_

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

"Very…interesting experience. I still don't know why he had that cake, though."

"Wow, and I can't believe I just saw an example of the lesson I had been teaching ten minutes prior."

Chronicle then fired two 'shurikens' at the parasprites, and they turned into black smoke and dust. This made Mystic Shield wince a bit at the quick life-ending spell his carrot-top-blond friend pulled off.

"What did you just do?", he asked with shock.

"I just applied another spell to my magic before I shot those parasprites.", Chronicle explained. "When I use that spell, any living being with insect-like properties will be disintegrated upon contact with anything in my aura."

"You're…you're willing to k—"

"If I hadn't used that spell, you would've been seeing four parasprite halves, and that would be creepy, right? And yes, **it** is an option for me. Just don't tell Fluttershy, okay?"

"I promise."

"Pinkie Swear?"

Mystic rolled his eyes before proceeding with the oath, learning it from Pinkie sometime before his first breaking of one, pantomiming each bit of the rhyme. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Just before poking his front hoof to his eye, he made sure to close it.

All of a sudden, Pinkie popped up from in front of them, went to Mystic's face, "Remember he trusts you. And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend **forever**!"

"Come on, Pinkie.", Chronicle said. "Even if he were to break my trust, he'll just have to gain it all over and before we know it we're friends again. And it depends on the secret I ask him to keep."

"And I still remember what you did to me when I broke a promise to you." Mystic indicated the bandages on his head. "I'd be a foal to repeat the same mistake so soon."

"Hey, that rhymes! Though you still got a long way to go before you can compete with Zecora on that regard!", Pinkie said, then resumed a serious face. "Now I need to find a lyre."

With that, she dashed off, but not before Chronicle bit into her tail in an attempt to stop her, only to be pulled along for the ride. "PINKIE!"

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Erstwhile, At Carousel Boutique…

At the ground-floor showroom, Rainbow Dash was standing on a table and dressed in a very high, ornate, curled wig, along with a lacy, form-fitting, gold-trimmed magenta outfit and gold shoes on all four hooves. She was fidgeting impatiently at having been pressed into dressmaker's-dummy duty as Rarity eyed one bit of the rig closely, pins clamped in her teeth.

"Stand still, Rainbow Dash!", the fashionista was saying.

"I can't!" Rainbow tried to fly, but Rarity held her tail down. "I need to fly!" Once she gave up and landed, Rarity let go as the pegasus turned to face her. "This is **way** too boring for me."

Rarity let the pins drop. "Do you want to look nice for Princess Celestia or not?"

The two glared at each other before the pegasus sat down on her rump. Shortly, Twilight and Chronicle entered, noting two similar outfits on equinequins.

_Wow. That wig would have done Madame de Pompadour proud._, the sole stallion thought.

"Wow! Rarity, those outfits are gorgeous!", Twilight said.

Rarity gave a chuckle. "Thank you, Twilight. Nice to know someone appreciates my talents."

Rainbow groaned and pulled at her face. "So boring!"

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of parasprite chirps. While Chronicle stood wary, Rarity stepped suspiciously toward Twilight. "Huh?"

Rainbow hovered near. "What's that sound, Twilight?" It proved to be coming from a light blue one that popped out of her mane. From behind it came two others, a dark blue and the yellow one she started with. "Wow! What are they?"

"The better question is, where did they come from? I only had one a minute ago."

One was grabbed. "Uh, I'll take one!"

"Me too!", agreed Rarity. "Oh, they're perfect!"

All of a sudden, Pinkie arrived at the shop, slightly out of breath. The real Chronicle was behind her, slightly out of breath as well. "Does anypony know where I can find an accordion?", she asked.

But nopony was paying attention, not even the Chronicle clone, but not because he was cooing over the girls' acquisitions but because he was looking around Rarity's place for…something.

Pinkie waved, standing on hind legs. "Gals! Hel-lo? This is important!" She then She dropped back to all fours with a groan. "Thanks a lot!"

As she then stormed off, the real Chronicle followed. "Wait up! Explain to me why you need the instruments!"

C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP

Later that evening…

After losing sight of Pinkie, and not finding her in Sugarcube Corner after deciding to wait there, Chronicle returned to the library, ignoring the squeaky-and-sparkling-clean place. As he reached the upper-story room, he glimpsed his charge worriedly surveying the area from the loft. And as he reached his bed, he saw Spike sleeping in his basket, cuddling the yellow parasprite and snoring happily.

"Oh, the decorations, the banquet…" He heard her say as she then looked out the window. "…I really hope everything comes together in time for tomorrow." As he reached the bed, and started to tuck in for the night, Twilight yawned and said in a drowsy tone, "What's there to worry about?"

"We're gonna find out very soon, Twilight.", Chronicle grumbled as the lights were turned off and he drifted off to sleep. "And you're not gonna like it."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

The next day…

"Spike!" a familiar voice came.

As he heard a thump immediately after, Chronicle's eyes fluttered open…and the first thing he saw was a brown parasprite in front of him. His first reaction was to immediately cast a barrier around himself and expand it, disintegrating all the parasprites around him. Getting up from bed, he saw his charge run over to Spike's basket, which is also overpopulated—including two that have nestled on the baby dragon's eyes.

"Wake up! What happened?", she was saying.

"Huh?", he sat up, then screamed and yanked the parasprites off his eyes. "What's going on?" They now saw that the entire room is swarming with the critters. And that some were being hit by Chronicle's shots as they disappeared completely, although they left some black dust.

"Where did they come from?"

"I don't know. The little guy got hungry in the night, so I gave him a snack, but I have no idea where these others came from." As they spoke, they had flitted off and now were rapidly undoing the cleanup efforts, dumping books and scrolls every which way. "Oh, no! They're messing up all my hard work!"

Already, the swarm has begun turning the entire place upside down now. "The Princess will be here in a few hours!"

She then galloped away, and Spike tried vainly to grab a scroll from the parasprite that was flying it across the loft. Down below, Twilight levitated her feather duster to shoo a few away. All the while, Chronicle was still shooting down parasprites, being careful not to be the cause of anything broken.

"Spike, help me round up these little guys!"

"What does it…look like I'm…doing?", Spike asked as he eventually found himself with a basket stacked high with them. Eventually, gravity got the better of him, dumping the parasprites out of the basket to bury him. Twilight quickly plied the duster and dug him out. "I know, I know. Stop fooling around."

"And I can't believe you didn't consider me!", Chronicle said as he caught their attention. They turned to see him still shooting down parapsrites and when too many started to cluster around him, he created a barrier around himself and then expanded it, turning every parasprite it made contact with into black dust.

"What did you just do?!", Twilight asked in shock.

"What else do you think?", he retorted. "Unlike everypony here, I don't live a perfectly pacifist life. And unfortunately, these have to go. And fast. And I'm surprised you weren't even the slightest bit curious as to what these things were."

"Sorry. They were so cute the idea never crossed my mind."

The bodyguard groaned at this. "Lesson one; be especially aware if something's cute. I believe Basil, the red dragon from the mountain, had learned that with regards to Fluttershy."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Later…

Two magical clones of Chronicle exited the library, one to call for Mystic Shield, and one to ask Pinkie Pie on why she started looking for instruments upon seeing a parasprite.

_I wonder how the rest are doing?_, they thought. Just then, they saw Rainbow Dash pass by…and on her were parasprites, arranged in such a suggestive way the word "bikini" flashed in their minds. She was followed by a few others as well. As the clone searching for Pinkie continued on, the one headed for Mystic Shield reached his academy. Since he can't open the door by himself, the clone teleported inside, then ran over to the doorway leading to his living quarters.

There, the clone saw Mystic sleeping in a mattress, not having a bed, with a blanket draped over his body. He walked over to the sleeping pony and said, "Mystic Shield, wake up. We got a problem."

The purple stallion slowly opened his green eyes. "What is it, Chronicle? It's still a bit early for me to conduct classes."

"I'm not here for the classes. It's about the parasprites."

"What about them?"

"I got an outbreak of them in the library. And if yesterday's events are any indication, they'll be more in Fluttershy's cottage, the Carousel Boutique, and Rainbow Dash's cloud house."

"And you need me because…"

"You demonstrated that you can select what goes in and out of your barriers, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, can you use it to hold in parasprites?"

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Elsewhere…

The other Chronicle clone was walking along, his eyes peeled for Pinkie Pie. "Where **_is_** that girl?", he asked himself. "Just why does she need the instruments? Are they somehow instrumental to stopping them?"

_Don't be silly._, a voice in his head replied. _This is __**Pinkie Pie**__ we're talking about._

"Hey, haven't we learned not to **simply** ignore the loon and take even their behavior in consideration? There were very grave consequences back when I ignored Aunt Fanny's warning about these things when Tabitha, Crais, and I practiced walking on fours with her." _And Blue was such a klutz on that department. Come to think of it, Aunt Fanny's pony form kinda looks like Pinkie—_

_You got a point there._

"Hey, did you just interrupt me, mid-thought?"

_Oops. I better shut up lest you go crazy._

"You better." Thankfully, the clone had been speaking in such a hushed tone that nopony gave him any weird stares. Just then, he realized he reached Carousel Boutique, and Rarity was walking out with a pair of saddlebags bulging with what he assumed were parasprites.

"Rarity!", he called. "Have you seen Pinkie Pie?"

"Why, yes.", she answered, looking real distressed as she pointed somewhere. "She went that way."

"Thanks." And with that, he cast a spell on his feet, then was off like the wind.

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

A while later…

The real Chronicle galloped alongside his charge down a road, the latter with her own set of jam-packed saddlebags.

"Why can't you put the parasprites inside your "hammerpsace"?", Twilight asked him.

"Three reasons. One, I'd sooner disintegrate the lot of them. Two, I don't want them messing up the stuff I already have inside. And three, it actually has a limited amount of space." _After all, it's just my backpack now turned into what it is now upon my coming here._

"How limited is it?"

"Twice or thrice the capacity of a single saddlebag."

"Then why won't you—"

"Reasons number one and two, or have you forgotten so quickly?"

She didn't get to reply as she stopped with a gasp as they met Rarity coming from the opposite direction.

"Huh?", the white unicorn let out as she blinked at the sight of Chronicle, then took a good look at Twilight's load, which was pulsating with parasprites. "I see we're having the same problem."

"Ditto!", another voice came. They looked and saw Rainbow Dash flying in, then stop mid-air to shake off some parasprites clinging to her, then flew off as they give chase.

"Fluttershy knows everything about animals.", Twilight said as the three unicorns galloped. "I'm sure she can tell us how to stop them from multiplying." Before they knew it, they were at the door of her cottage. However, just as his charge was about to knock, it burst open to release a huge swarm of the flying things…and most of them got disintegrated upon impact on Chronicle's barrier, which he had instinctively conjured. "Or not."

_Houston, we got a problem._

C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - Parapsrites crowd the screen before getting disintegrated into black dust by Chronicle's various spells. By the time he's done, he was in the center of the screen, with the show's logo larger than usual and right behind him as he looked around some more. (3)

C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R

The three unicorns were now standing at the doorway, now joined by Rainbow Dash who hovered above them as they witness the cloud of parasprites right in front of them.

"Do something, Fluttershy!", Twilight cried out. From what they could see inside, small houses for birds and other animals have been mounted at various heights, with small staircases running up to some of them—including one placed by the chimney of a fireplace. A few mouse holes can be seen in the baseboards. And the air was thick with these flying pests. Fluttershy herself, panicked, bounded into view among them. "Can't you control them?"

"I've tried everything I know! I've tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely, and—" She darted off before she could finish.

"Have you tried more…assertive methods?", Chronicle asked as Rainbow made a noise of disgust. _I'm not gonna disintegrate these parasprites in front of her. I've seen her angry __**at me**__ and I __**do not**__ want to see it ever again._ Suddenly, the notion of Princess Celestia being attacked by parasprites and carried away by them flashed in his mind. _What…was…that?_

As he snapped out of his reverie, he realized that everypony else was outside…and that his left flank was touching Fluttershy's, who was facing the other way. He quickly turned around to see the others outside as well, his charge having a face of horror.

"If we can't get them under control before the Princess arrives…it'll be total disaster!"

One coughed up a kid in front of Rarity, who cried out, "Ewwww! If you ask me, it's already a total disaster!"

"Hey, that's a great idea!", Chronicle said, which made everypony turn to face him and stare as if he grew a second head.

"How is **that** a great idea?!", his charge asked, ballistic at the thought.

"Surely Princess Celestia can get the problem under control, right?"

"But she's coming on an official visit! We can't ask her for help!"

"It's an **un**official, casual visit!" He approached his charge. "She stated it herself, remember?! You just can't bother to see it that way and nopony else could either!"

She went up to his face in turn and their horns crossed. "And how do**you** know what the Princess is really like?!"

Before they could argue further, they were interrupted by Applejack arriving at the scene, hauling a full apple cart toward the cottage. "Here's all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy.", she called before stopping short. "But I still can't figure why you need so many." She got her answer when several of the little menaces consumed the entire load in two seconds. The harvester was not amused. "Hey!"

"What do we do?", Fluttershy asked.

Twilight gasps happily, getting an idea, "I got it! Nopony can herd like Applejack."

"Yeah!", Rainbow agreed. "We can drive 'em back into the forest!"

Applejack, hearing this, gave a sigh. "I'll rassle 'em up, but I'll need everypony's help to do it."

Just as she said that, one of the Chronicle clones arrived with Mystic Shield.

"Applejack!", Mystic called.

"Mystic Shield! Just in time! I could use your help." She then pointed at her friends accordingly. "Twilight, you, Chronicle and Rarity wait over there. I'll herd the little critters straight at you like a funnel." The three galloped off, the cone accompanying them as the two pegasi came over to await their orders, "Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy stay on top of 'em. Don't let 'em fly away."

"Aye-aye!" Rainbow gave a salute before the two pegasi flew ahead.

"Mystic Shield! I was wonderin' if you could use that shield spell o' yours to—"

"Trap the parapsrites?", he finished. "You can count on me."

Applejack then reared up and let out a "Yee-haa!" before charging after the critters in question, forcing them to fly ahead of her and gradually concentrate into an increasingly smaller space. Those at greater heights began to drift downward as the two pegasi made pass after pass. A few others fled before Twilight's rush, but they and all the others soon found themselves clumped into a single huge ball. Mystic then did his part and conjured a sphere barrier around the parasprites, trapping them.

"All right, y'all. Here goes nothin'!" Applejack's next charge set the mass rolling. As she brought up the rear, the two unicorn mares took point, with the pegasi keeping pace above Applejack as the unicorn stallions flanked the left and right sides, Mystic averting his gaze from Fluttershy all the while. A few bumped at the barrier, but Chronicle had placed his own magic on it and those who dared push were disintegrated. Somehow, the rest of the swarm kept away from the barrier and so the zappings-into-black-dust were few. "Hold on, guys! We're almost there!"

Twilight was clearly enjoying both the exercise and the success of her idea to recruit Applejack, then gasped in surprise as she saw Pinkie next to her, matching her stride for stride. Chronicle's other clone was there as`well.

"Pinkie!"

"Twilight! We don't have much time!"

"You're telling me! The Princess could arrive at any moment!"

Pinkie gave a smile. "Exactly! That's why I need you gals to drop what you're doing and help me find some maracas!" On this last word, she bent her neck 90 degrees to her left, toward Twilight, and swiveled her head slightly upward to see the unicorn from the top corners of her eyes.

The words and the maneuver left Twilight even more puzzled. "Maracas? Pinkie, we've got much bigger problems than missing maracas!"

Pinkie straightened up and gasped. "You're right! Getting a tuba has to be our number-one goal!" She then dived away. "Follow me!" The only one who did was the Chronicle clone that had been chasing her. However, she then zipped in again, this time galloping backwards so she can look Twilight straight in the face. "I said, follow me!"

"Pinkie Pie, you are **so** random.", Rainbow said in an annoyed tone.

"And you are all so stubborn!"

On this line, she put her legs in forward gear and races back along the road past Applejack, the clone following her…following her. "Pinkie!", he called. "Would you just explain?!"

"Forget her, ladies.", Applejack stated.

"Excuse me?", retorted the stallions in unison.

"Focus! Head 'em up and move 'em out!"

"You do know I'm a stallion, right?", Mystic said as they eventually neared the Everfree Forest and rumbled away from Ponyville. As they approached, everypony else stopped short and Mystic removed his barrier around the parasprites. However, a blue barrier from the remaining Chronicle clone persisted as he continued to lead them out.

"All right!", Rainbow whooped as they disappeared, then did a high five with Fluttershy, smacking her front hooves hard enough to make her wince.

"Ouch."

"Will he be all right?", Rarity wondered, thinking the Chronicle who went in with the parasprites was the real him.

"Of course he will.", the blue stallion answered as he walked up next to her. "He's a capable fighter like I am." He then nudged her hard, proving he was the real deal. "Besides, I could use a little more Everfree Forest knowledge."

"We did it!" Whooped Twilight as the pegasi landed. "Nice work, Applejack!"

"Couldn't-a done it without y'all.", the farmpony replied.

"Now let's get back and clean up the mess they made before the Princess arrives." She then started ahead and they all followed.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

At Fluttershy's cottage…

The company made their way at the entrance, Twilight was speaking. "Okay. Everyone knows what to do, right? We gotta work extra hard to make up for lost time."

The property owner dropped in front of the door, got the handle in her teeth—and was immediately beset by another huge parasprite swarm as soon as she opened it. The wake of their massed flight caused Rainbow to drift out of view and nearly blew Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity off their hooves. As for the stallions, they conjured barriers around themselves, Chronicle's zapping many of the pests into dust.

"Where did they come from?", shouted Mystic.

One popped up near Fluttershy as she apologized sheepishly. "Well…I may have kept just one." She then gave a soft chuckle as it jumped up and down on her back.

Instantly, Chronicle teleported up to her face, took in a deep breath, then…did a strong blow on her face, blowing the parasprite away. He then 'took out' his paddle and slapped her on the noggin twice before saying, "Idiot. Had my preference to you been anything like Applejack's, your back would've met my frying pan."

She reeled back a bit on getting what he meant as she saw everypony put all the fury they can into their eyes, some of the parasprites flipping Applejack's hat off her head, which she quickly retrieved. "I couldn't help myself. They're just…so…cute." She then made another gasp of shock as she realized that the parasprites hitting Chronicle's barrier were being zapped into black dust.

He noticed this and said, "I'm sorry, but my aura has…negative effects on insects. I've been practicing cancelling that, but I can't do it while I'm stressed, and I'm plenty stressed right now due to all these damned parasprites."

"I'm gonna have a talk with everypony later on the dangers of cuteness.", Mystic grumbled.

"We don't have time to keep rounding up these things!", Twilight said. "What do we do now?"

Rainbow landed behind the others, now with a pair of goggles propped on her head. "We call in the weather patrol!" She then took off straight up, cruising over as Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity tried to cope with the infestation. Fluttershy was nowhere in sight, having apparently ducked back into her cottage.

Mystic gestured and said, "Why not go all out on those parapsrites?"

Chronicle shook his head at the idea and nudged at where Fluttershy was, replying, "You know what she will do to me if she sees me doing that, right? I was lucky she didn't get mad at me from what I said."

"That was a lie, is it?"

"Better she not know, lest I face her wrath."

Rainbow then pulled the goggles over her eyes. "Time to take out the adorable trash." With a savage yell, she plunged toward the airborne annoyances and zipped around in all directions, streaking the air behind her. In due time, she whipped up a tornado that quickly sucked in the entire swarm as it roved across the meadow. To avoid being swept away by the wind, Twilight grabbed a fence post, Applejack—giving her hat to Chronicle for safekeeping—bit down on Twilight's tail, Rarity seized a shrub, and Mystic put a barrier around himself and Chronicle, keeping the wind out. A distance away, the twister kept doing its work.

"Way to go, Rainbow Dash!", Twilight whooped as she and Applejack let go.

"Looks like our problems are solved!"

"Don't be so sure.", Mystic gave an uncertain look as he glanced at Pinkie, who was trotting over with a pair of cymbals slung on a cord around her neck, and the wind and her motion caused them to clash against each other repeatedly. The Chronicle clone following her was right behind, panting

"They will be with these cymbals!", she said. Just then, a gust snapped them both free of the cord and carried them away. "Hey! Gimme those back!"

The two brass disks were swiftly pulled in, presumably forcing Rainbow to duck with a yell time after time as they whirled around her. The Chronicle clone, not actually weighing much as he was just made out of magic, got pulled in as well, much to everypony's surprise, including the real deal. As a result, the tornado began to bend and swerve crazily on the path.

"I can't hold it!", they heard Rainbow say. "She's breaking up!" Finally, she was thrown clear, slamming into a tree back first, and Twilight gaped at the sight of thousands of parasprites escaping from the rapidly shrinking twister and making a beeline for Ponyville. As for the magical clone, he was hurled right for his summoner, who deftly dodged him as he then dissipated. The would-be percussionist then found three irate ponies facing her.

"Pinkie Pie, what have you done?!", Twilight scolded, Fluttershy now hovering above them.

"I've lost a brand-new pair of cymbals, that's what I've done!"

"Will you forget about your silly instruments for one second? You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville!"

"Me? Ruin? I'm not the ruiner! I'm the ruin-ee!...or is it "ruin-ess"?" She sat on her haunches to think. ""Ruin-ette"?"

Applejack zipped up near her. "Come on, girls. There's no reasonin' with that one." She and the rest of the girls took off. "She's a few apples short of a bushel."

Pinkie called after them, but it was in vain. "Hey! I'm trying to tell you all that the ruining is on the other hoof—if you'd just slow down and LISTEN TO ME!" She was left alone to fume in the middle of the road.

The two stallions, having been left behind, walked up to her, Chronicle with the cymbals she had lost. Pinkie moved to retrieve them, but he just 'moved' them out of her reach, then 'closed' them on her head, making a crashing cymbal clash and rendering her dizzy for a second.

"Do you always treat your friends like this?", Mystic asked as Pinkie's eyes spun. Meanwhile, Rainbow had recovered and flew off after the parasprites.

"Only when they're unreasonable, and even then I just use a paddle or a pan. But given the circumstances, I thought I'd use the cymbals she had would get my point across." Once Pinkie's eyes stopped rolling, he turned to her, cast a "binding circle" to make sure she wouldn't run off suddenly, and scolded, "Pinkie Pie! You better explain to us right now why you need all those instruments!" She was about to speak up when he cut her off again. "And wipe that stupid smile right off your stupid face! That's why the others can't take you seriously! Even **I** have problems taking you seriously right now! The only reason I am is because I've also seen parasprites before like you apparently have!"

"Please, Pinkie. We're here to listen.", Mystic said. "You seem to know these parasprites. And from what I could piece together from what Chronicle told me, the instruments are the key. Could you **please** tell us how and why?"

For a second, Pinkie stood there, then was about to crack a smile before a harsh glare from Chronicle stopped her. After gathering her thoughts, which only took one second, she began to explain.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Erstwhile, in Ponyville…

The parasprites floated town onto the several ponies who stared contentedly up at them, unaware of their imminent danger, although a few unicorns—having just taken Mystic Shield's lesson—were wary. One perched on the hoof of Bon Bon, who stood at a table outside Sugarcube Corner, then surprised her by gobbling down the slices of cake and pie that stood on the table. Bon Bon gasped in surprise at this split-second gluttony, while Heartstrings—who was across the table—was on the verge of tears.

Elsewhere, a mare started to water her garden, only to have a horde eat it down to the dirt in an instant. All the other parasprites started devastating Ponyvile of anything remotely edible. There were only pocket efforts of resistance from the unicorns who attended Mystic's class earlier that day.

Twilight and her friends could only stare helplessly at the chaos as they arrived. Rainbow had put her goggles away since she was definitely not going to use her tornado technique right here.

"What do we do?", asked Fluttershy. "They're eating all the food in town!"

Applejack gasped, "My apples!", then galloped off.

"We've gotta do something!", Twilight thought out loud. She then founds herself face to face with a parasprite that was carrying an apple cupcake, no doubt swiped from Applejack's inventory. Her eyes then popped and she smiled as it dropped the treat and flew off. "I got it! I'll cast a spell to make them stop eating all the food!"

She hunkered down and threw a wide-angle beam from her horn that created harmless shockwaves that quickly washed over the entire town. Many stopped in their tracks above they were about to eat; others grimaced and popped their eyes open, dazed. And Twilight and company found themselves surrounded by placid critters that were, for once, eating absolutely nothing.

Chronicle then teleported right among them and said to his charge, "Nice work. Had you not done this, I fear they would've started eating ponies." All his friends gasped in shock, Fluttershy's the loudest. "Well, I learned from my clone that followed that ball of parasprites earlier that parasprites are part of the Everfree Forest's life cycle. They're part of the food chain, something you wouldn't be familiar with given your vegetarian diets."

Pinkie then zipped up, a pair of loaded saddlebags on her back. "Look! Tambourines! If you could all just…" Getting no response from the others, Chronicle wondering about the spell's other effects, she growled in frustration and galloped off, the tremors of her flanks rattling the tambourines' shakers.

Mystic was right behind her, carrying some of the other instruments Pinkie had been looking for, yelling, "Wait for me!" as he followed.

One of the pests flew to an apple in an otherwise empty basket on the ground and sniffed at it, prompting a worried gasp from Twilight—and then it frowned and gave a disdainful little chirp, refusing to eat. The unicorn sighed in relief as nervous sweat ran down her face.

Its next trick was to open wide and gulp down the basket, apple and all, then spit the fruit out untouched. Another then chowed down on the Sugarcube Corner sign, a third ate the light fixture on a lamppost, and a swarm decimated the roof of a nearby house.

A produce cart was next to go—but not the apples on it, one of which rolled to a stop in front of Rainbow, who gave a sarcastic chuckle to Twilight "Hey. It worked." She pointed at the apple. "They're not eating the food anymore."

As the spellcaster cringed at these words, trying to smile at this spectacular backfire, Chronicle then said, "Yeah. Now they're eating **everything else**." He waved his hoof at two trying to eat a gold horseshoe. "And we have no idea whether or not ponies are in that list or the other." He then paused for a while. _Wait, was that a horseshoe I just saw?_

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rarity stared open-mouthed at the pesky things, then a sudden horrifying thought struck the latter. "Oh, no. If they get inside my store…" She then completely freaked out. "…EVERYPONY FOR HERSELF!" She then raced off.

Chronicle then took off in a different direction as well, making a barrier around himself as a swarm headed for the library, plowing through them and reducing them to black dust. _There's no way I'm letting them take __**those**__!_ Once he was sure Fluttershy wouldn't see him, he also began firing shots, knowing his "horn blade" would be too ineffective on swarms.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

At Carousel Boutique…

Rarity finally made it to her home and workplace, only to quickly confirm her worst fears as she barreled toward the front door and into the showroom. "My outfits!" Two of them were eaten right off the equinequins, and a third starts to meet the same fate until Rarity waved its eater off. "Go on! Shoo! Get out, you naughty, naughty—"

It coughed up a new parasprite and she backs away, revolted. The sound of more young being hocked into the world unbalanced her sense of decorum even more. Finally, she jumped onto a stool and huddled among the madness with a cry of terror.

"I got this!", a voice called.

At the door was Mystic Shield, who let the sunlight silhouette him for a moment, then tromped resolutely across the floor as Rarity gave him a look of pure admiration. This turned to puzzlement as he marched past her without stopping and approached a recorder lying on a table at the far side of the room.

He blew a few notes into it, then said, "This'll do." He then turned to Rarity, then at the parasprites, then conjured a green barrier around himself, then expanded it until it encompassed the entire showroom, something Chronicle hasn't mastered yet. The barrier was then contracted, this time keeping in any parasprites inside as it shrunk until it was a dome around him. Next, he kept the barrier in its place, pushing through the parasprites that thankfully weren't considering him yet, and exited the barrier he had cast, its center no longer on him.

"No time to waste.", he said as he turned to Rarity, gave her an informal salute, then ran out, 'rolling' his "ball of parasprites" out of the boutique. Seconds after he was out of the building, he heard an ear-shattering scream.

_Now what? No, no time for that. Pinkie Pie needs her instruments. _

R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - Parapsrites crowd the screen before getting crowded by a green barrier that closes in around them. After contacting into the size of a large circus ball, Mystic Shield trots in from the left and starts to 'roll' the 'ball' away, revealing the show's logo larger than usual behind it. (4)

R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS

At Books and Branches Library…

Chronicle was at the loft, his front half under his bed as he looked for something. Outside it, his tail swished the parasprites bothering him as they curiously went for his cutie mark.

"Got it." He pulled his head out, something in his teeth. They were magazines featuring Fluttershy during her short time as a supermodel thanks to a pony named Photo Finish. The parasprites then head for them, only to be disintegrated by a barrier spell from him. "Oh, no you don't.", he said as he then 'moved' the magazines into "hammerspace", where they would be safe from those pests. He then proceeded to blast every parasprite he could see into black dust. As he made his way down, he saw Twilight Sparkle race in and see the parasprites wreaking havoc; several were carrying books through the air, and Spike peeked out from under his basket.

"Help!", he cried out. A book then bounced off the basket, slamming it down on top of him. He lifted it clear again as Twilight dodged a throw. At floor level, one eagerly licked an exposed page and she gasped at this. Another—complete with knife, fork, and napkin—was sucking down a thin ribbon of ink from its book as if this were a strand of spaghetti.

"They're eating the words!", she gasped.

After it finished, she leaped up, snagged a parasprite's wing in her teeth, and gallops out with the pest in tow. Chronicle summoned a magical clone to go after her.

Spike looked out from under his basket. "Help?"

"I gotcha.", Chronicle said as he 'pulled' the basket off continued to blast parasprites and salvage whatever books he could, placing them around himself as he protected himself and the books with a barrier. "Spike! Get me all the one-of-a-kind-books in this library!"

"What?"

"We obviously can't salvage everything. Books can be replaced, but if the parasprites eat the one-of-a-kind ones, their knowledge will be lost **forever**! We can't have that, now can we?"

"Right!" And Spike quickly got to work, starting with The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Meanwhile…

Twilight, followed by the clone dispatched after her, raced through the forest toward the twisted old tree that served as the home of Zecora. Just as the copy caught up with her, she bulled through the door, and they managed to see that they had interrupted Zecora's meditation, which consisted of her balancing upside down and headfirst atop a bamboo pole. Naturally, with the interruption, she lost her focus and balance and tumbled to the floor.

"Have you gone mad?!", she berated as Twilight spit the parasprite free.

"Zecora, these little guys are devouring Ponyville, and the Princess is on her way!" The little insect flew across the hut and to Zecora as she stood up and eyed it. "Can you help us? Please?"

"Oh, monster of so little size." It then lighted on her nose. "Is that a parasprite before my eyes?"

"I don't know! Is it?" It then flew back toward her.

"Isn't it obvious already?", snarked Chronicle.

"Tales of crops and harvests consumed.", she began as she walked up to her cauldron, which was bubbling with green liquid. "If these creatures are in Ponyville…" The parasprite then yakked up a duplicate. "…you're doomed."

This was exactly what the overstressed young unicorn did not want to hear, judging from her nervous gulp.

C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z

The two unicorns galloped out of the forest, the male one zapping the parasprites following them. They then skid to a stop as the female one looked skyward.

"Oh, no!", Twilight gasped, seeing a familiar pegasus-drawn chariot begin to fly down. "Here she comes!"

"Just in time.", the Chronicle clone said as he galloped his way straight for it while his charge galloped through town only to find herself staring at frazzled, screaming ponies and extensive structural damage in all directions. Just as the real Chronicle approached her, disintegrating more parasprites, he saw that her overtaxed brain finally threw a rod. Her eyes contracted to fixed points as a crazed little smile took root beneath them.

"Okay. Here's the plan. Rainbow Dash, you distract them." Rainbow rocketed past, screaming with a horde in pursuit. "Good! Everyone else, we need to build an exact copy of Ponyville—" She pointed to one side, where Firecracker Burst was incinerating parasprites, but taking care not to burn anything else. "—right over there. We've got less than a minute!" The continued wailing and crashing all around forced her back into reality, and she slumped resignedly toward the ground. "Zecora was right. We're doomed." Just then, there was a distant trumpet fanfare. "Oh, no." She turned to the ruined main street. "The Princess's procession is here! It's all over!"

The real Chronicle however gave a little smile. "About time." The fanfare gave way to a lively oompah/polka-flavored tune in B flat major. What emerged over the horizon was not Celestia's chariot, not a royal brass band, but something pink that resolved into Pinkie with a great many musical instruments clustered around her. Accompanying her were Noteworthy, Mystic Shield, and Heartstrings, all with an assortment of instruments around them and playing them. Twilight rubbed her disbelieving eyes for a better look, and she then realized that they have become a four-pony band.

A banjo was slung around Pinkie's neck, with Applejack's harmonica attached so she can easily reach it with her mouth. A tuba and an accordion were hooked up on her back, the former worn around her midsection. As she alternated blowing into the harmonica and the tuba mouthpiece, cymbals could be seen strapped to her forelegs so that they clashed on every step. She also had a tambourine on her left side. Mystic only had a snare drum and an oboe while Lyra had a generous number of lyre**s**, whereas Noteworthy alternated between a saxophone and a clarinet, held by special harnesses that closed holes whenever a note was played.

_I wonder where Blues got that?_, Chronicle wondered (knowing Blues as another name for Noteworthy) as the band marched past him and Twilight.

"Pinkie, we're in the middle of a crisis here!", his charge was saying. "This is no time for your—" She was interrupted by her bodyguard nudging her side, then pointing up. She looked up as well and lost steam "…nonsense?"

The parasprites have stopped eating and began to bob up and down in time with the rhythm. Gradually, they worked their way down to ground level and fell in step behind the band, forming a bouncy procession that followed them past Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity. None of them could find any words to describe their reaction, and Twilight could manage only a bewildered shrug when she joined them.

The band soon reached the park, and the five and Chronicle were now at the tail end of the very long marching line.

Twilight suddenly pointed upward (again). "Look!"

As Celestia's chariot touched down, the Chronicle clone ahead expecting it, the six galloped/flew past the four-pony-band, who kept right on playing. They all knelt before the regal winged unicorn once she has stepped out, with the exception of Chronicle and his clone, who bowed their heads and raised a foreleg so that it was in front of their body and perpendicular to their other legs, just like the last time they met her after defeating Nightmare Moon.

"Twilight Sparkle, my prize pupil!", the princess said.

Twilight sat up on her haunches. "Hello, Princess!"

Everypony stood to attention. "So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends." The growing sound of Pinkie's approach stopped her cold and threw a scare into the five mares when they saw the puzzled look on her face. Then came the band, parasprites and all.

Twilight tried to sound casual and said, "So…how was the trip? Hit much traffic?"

"Like there'd be traffic for a pegasus-driven chariot?", snarked Chronicle. _And any traffic would've pulled aside or be pushed aside by Celestia herself._

There came a soft gasp from the princess. "What is this?" A parasprite cooed and landed on her wing. She laughed and lifted it for a closer look, and it darted away. "These creatures are adorable!"

"They're not **that** adorable.", Rainbow muttered to Rarity, who gave her a pained smile.

I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit."

"Parade?", Twilight parroted before catching on. "Oh…yes! The parade!" Both Chronicles rolled their eyes at this.

"Unfortunately, that visit is going to have to wait for another time. I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently there's been some sort of…infestation."

Twilight managed a smile. "An…infestation?"

"Yes. A swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town." The real Chronicle did a snark cough. "I'm sorry, Twilight, to have to put you all through so much trouble."

"Trouble?" The bookworm gave a laugh. "What trouble?"

"Before I have to go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?"

Twilight was taken aback. "My…report?"

Chronicle's clone then gazed at the band, who have stopped at the forest's edge and kept playing as the parasprites bounced happily along the road into it. Haven't you learned anything about friendship?"

The faithful student thought very hard for a moment and then smiled as an idea hit her. "Actually, I have." Her friends reacted proudly as she began. "I've learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it." As she spoke, they all (save for Rainbow and the Chronicle clone) approached Celestia as she got back onto her chariot. "It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives…" A big cymbal crash startled them all and Fluttershy wound up hovering. "…even when they don't always seem to make sense."

"I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like you're all learning so much from each other.

"Thank you, Princess."

"All in a day's work.", said Chronicle with sarcasm as the chariot then rolled away.

But just as the chariot passed by the clone, Celestia gave a knowing wink at him, leaving him confused for a bit before understanding; she knew parasprites infested Ponyville but pretended otherwise to spare them the embarrassment. With a knowing smile, he dismissed himself, the knowledge of this passing going straight to his real self as he and his friends crossed to the band, who stopped playing after the last parasprite had passed them and gone into the forest.

"Hey! What happened to the Princess?", Pinkie asked.

"Emergency in Fillydelphia.", answered Twilight.

Rainbow gave a knowing smile. "Some sort of infestation."

"Oh, no! Have they got parasprites too? 'Well, have tuba, will travel!"

"Just great…", complained Blues and the two unicorns in the band groaned while Pinkie got a lungful of air ready for the tuba, but managed no more than one note before Twilight stopped her.

"I think the Princess can handle it."

"So you knew what those critters were all along, huh, Pinkie Pie?", Applejack asked.

"Well, duh! Why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments? I tried to tell you."

"We know, Pinkie Pie, and we're sorry we didn't listen." As her friends offered their apologies, Chronicle felt something was missing as Blues, Lyra, and Mystic decided to head back to whatever was left of Ponyville. "You're a great friend—" Pinkie beamed hugely. "—even if we don't always understand you."

"Thanks, guys. You're all great friends too, even when I don't understand me."

"You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, and more importantly, you saved Ponyville."

C—TS—LH—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—BN

Everyone but Pinkie stared around themselves with obvious discontent at what remained of Sugarcube Corner and several other buildings in what used to be a very nice place to live. A piece of the bakery's roof fell to the ground.

"Or not."

"Could've been worse.", Chronicle attempted a tone of optimism as he saw Pinkie play the "losing horns" tune with trombone while facing away from them. Then it hit him. "Oh, wait a second!"

"What?", asked Rainbow.

"There's a another lesson to be learned here! Unfortunately, unlike all the others, the lesson didn't solve our problem because it was only learned after failing to solve it." He then 'produced' a quill and paper and 'passed' it to his charge. "Twilight, write another report. Reserve it for next week."

"Okay."

Chronicle then walked over to Pinkie, tapped her on the back, making her turn around, then said, "Pinkie Pie! We could've avoided all this if you Just. Explained. Why. You needed. All. Those. Instruments. In the first place! If you haven't learned the lesson yet, you're gonna learn it now." Pinkie sat on her haunches as he cleared his throat.

C—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

(A/N: This isn't what he said, but the message is still there.)

Two weeks later, after the library was fixed…

Chronicle had Spike write a letter while his charge was out.

"Dear Princess Celestia: Now that I look back at the…incident in Ponyville, I have discovered that there was **another** lesson about friendship. Pinkie Pie is a great friend, always there to give laughs or make you smile. She can also be quite a ditz. This caused a bit of trouble with the parasprite problem I know you knew we had." Spike stopped writing at this.

"Wait, she knew?", Spike asked.

"She gave me a knowing wink.", Chronicle replied. "You don't wink for no reason. Also, she seemed confused and startled at the parade instead of excited and happier about it. Then again, perhaps she was startled because she failed **again** to make her visit casual. After all, casual visits don't warrant parades specifically for them."

"But why you? Why does she trust you with this?"

"I don't know. Maybe because she knows I can keep a secret and will not judge others in a heartbeat. Also, she didn't want my friends, especially her student Twilight, to feel ashamed or anything and thus feigned not knowing. Now please continue."

"Okay." And Spike resumed writing while Chronicle resumed dictating.

"Hopefully, thanks to me, Pinkie has discovered that not everypony thinks the same way she does and that explaining yourself properly is the best way to get your friends to heed your advice, especially when you're known for being silly, who don't tend to be paid attention to that much. Twilight Sparkle's stalwart bodyguard, Chronicle.

"P.S. Please treat this as if this letter was from Twilight. She can be quite strict in her need to submit one letter every week. And please reply to assure her that because I'm sending this letter without her knowing. ;)"

"You done?", Spike asked. "And are you sure about this "smiley"?"

Chronicle smacked himself in the face, then said, "Well, it's too late to erase that now. I believe it's safe to send it."

"All right. But I still don't think this is a good idea." Spike rolled it up, then burnt the scroll with his breath, sending it to Canterlot. "Are you sure 'bout this?"

"Sometimes, you gotta help your friends, even if they don't think they need it." Chronicle then paused. "Hey, that makes for another lesson about friendship. But I'll write that later. It doesn't apply for every situation after all. Spike, I'm writing another letter."

"Another?!" The baby dragon seemed tired at this.

"We can have this sent another time, put it in reserve in case Twilight doesn't have a letter to send for the week."

"All right." He then took out another paper and started to write again.

"Dear Princess Celestia: This is not a friendship report, but is still an important lesson nonetheless. No matter how cute they are or how much you like them, taking animals you are not familiar with away from their natural environment is a bad idea, especially if they come from some place like the Everfree Forest. Since they come from there, whatever rules of living they follow there get applied to wherever they go. And since it's 'not natural', it can cause imbalance and chaos.

"P.S. I'm a bit fuddled in the meaning of natural here. Sorry, if I don't make much sense."

"You done?", asked Spike.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Finally."

C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S

At the present…

Chronicle continued his tirade. "Instead of saying what you said yesterday, you could've said something like…" He proceeded to try to mimic Pinkie's voice. "A parasprite! Don't you know how dangerous they are? THEY COULD EAT ALL THE CANDY IN THE CITY! I'm off to get a trombone! TO SAVE THE CANDY!"

Pinkie replied, "I don't sound like that. But yeah, I guess I could've easily said something like that."

He resumed normal tone. "See?" He then turned to the others, particularly Twilight and Fluttershy, and said, "And either of you could've said, 'A parasprite? So you know what they are? What does that have to do with a trombone?'" This time, he didn't mimic either of their voices. "We could've avoided all this if we didn't get distracted by things just because they look cute."

"That's right!", Mystic Shield called in the distance as he had Greatstone and a few others, among them not his students, help him in rebuilding his academy.

"I hope we all learned our lessons here. Now let's get Ponyville back up and running. The town's not gonna fix itself, you know."

With that, his friends sighed in relief (that Chronicle's lecture was over), and got to work.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) While Chronicle does know who Shining Armor is, he won't find out his family relation to Twilight Sparkle's until I reach the chapter based on the episode he's officially introduced in.  
(2) Yeah. Cholocate Sun and Nalego were supposed to be one-shot flashback characters, but I couldn't resist bringing them back. I know it doesn't really advance the plot, but maybe it will become a running gag of sorts; _Times with Chocolate Sun and Nalego in the Wild_. Hmm… No, I can't make a mini-series. I got too much to do.  
(3) I realize this eyecatch may be a bit child-unfriendly if eyecatches were ever to be in the show.  
(4) I skipped the part at the farm because we all know what happened and because none of my OCs (Chronicle or Mystic Shield) are present.

nightelf37: Not really a good end, sorry. I'll try and do better in future. See ya on Third!


	16. Chapter 14: Suited For Success

nightelf37: Here's a little tidbit behind the scenes. About the request board, it was meant as something for my character Chronicle to do when not standing by Twilight Sparkle's side, or hanging out with her and her friends, aside from having something to do. And then the idea of a dojo came into mind after playing the Pony Maker on Facebook, and that is where the idea of Mystic Shield came to be.

Pinkie Pie: Wow. That's interesting.

nightelf37: I thought you were more…hyper than this.

Pinkie: I blame you. You aren't really—

nightelf37: Okay, okay. I get it.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity (not appearing in this chapter), Blue Diary, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**(WCDDtEo) Chapter 14: Suited For Success**

"You had a parasprite problem too, Chronicle?"

"Yes, Blue. And Pinkie Pie had the solution. Too bad my friends only realized it **after** losing a lot to them."

The two of them were in Blue Diary's dreamscape, where the white pegasus was busy practicing forming his swords' auras into different shapes as he focused on them. His brother sat behind him as he watched the red-colored aura take various forms.

"Yeah? Well, Pinkie was the solution here too with **our** parasprite problem." One of his swords' auras formed into an axe and the other formed into a spear. "Luckily, Ditzy Doo caught on and so did Raindrops."

Blue proceeded to swing his swords and test out his 'weapons'. "While **my** friends never took so much as a hint, **your** friends were able to piece it all together? AND help Pinkie out? Man, I don't understand why my friends can be such idiots sometimes. If anything, I'd say you're the luckier one."

Blue Diary changed his swords' auras into two forms of firearms that didn't exist in Equestria (not that they probably exist). "Well, Ditzy knew what it felt like to be ignored, so I guess that's a factor. And you're just saying I'm lucky because you're a unicorn, Chronicle. Unicorns are quite prone to mental disorders, you know. And my Ponyville suffered serious damage."

"How serious?", asked Chronicle as Blue then transformed the aura into a giant broadsword and raised it high.

"Well, we got a serious food shortage that was mitigated thanks to some of the smarter ponies keeping their food stores closed, particularly BonBon's Confectionarium."

"You really are the luckier ones."

"Why is that?"

"In my world, Ponyville was **comepletely** destroyed! It took a long time and some help from Canterlot to restore it to what it was."

"What?!" And Blue lost his balance and tumbled, even though the 'broadsword' was technically weightless, which slammed onto the ground pointy end first. He ended up hanging upside down somehow. "Parasprites eat only food, right?"

"Well, no thanks to Twilight, who cast a spell that made them stop eating all the food…I'm sure you can guess what happened next, right?"

"They started eating everything else that **isn't** food?"

"Yes. Then again, if she hadn't, they might've started eating ponies."

"Seriously?" Blue 'turned off' his sword auras and flipped gracefully to the ground.

"Yes." The two then proceeded to stare at one another for a full minute.

"Are you done venting?", Blue finally asked.

Chronicle gave a sigh. "Yes, I am. Thanks for listening to me."

"Why'd you decide to visit me instead of Timerity?"

"Because she most likely experienced the same problem I did. And you know how less 'in-control' she is compared to me."

"Right. Well, you better head back to your dreamscape. I'll be waking up shortly. I got the morning shift."

"Right. You're a weather manager."

"No. Just a weather pony. Managerial position goes to Rainbow Dash." And with that, he turned around to walk away, only to trip up on the first step. (1) And promptly vanish. Before he knew it, Chronicle was shoved back by an unknown force and when he got up, glimpsing the book "Cupcakes", he realized he was back in his own dreamscape.

_Blue Diary must've woke up._

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

One day in Ponyville…

"What to do, what to do, what to do."

"What to do about what?"

Chronicle and Mystic Shield were at the spa, relaxing as they lay on massage tables. Giving them the treatment were Lotus and her twin sister Aloe, whose hair color and coat color were reversed in comparison to Lotus's. She still shared the same cutie mark and eye color as her sister.

"It's about the Grand Galloping Gala.", sighed the blue stallion. "While I've been there before, I usually either rented tuxedos or my charges provided me suits to dress up in. I was wondering if I should take a trip there and reserve a suit."

"Why don't you go see Rarity? I'm sure she'll be more than happy to make something for you."

"Dresses are her specialty. I haven't seen a single suit so far. Except for the ones she put on me and Spike during that…ticket fiasco. And it was too frou-frou-y." He was not going to tell Mystic about the few times he has cross-dressed either as disguise or a dare.

"I saw a suit or two. Before the parasprites devoured them, that is."

"I'll have to think about it." He then gave a sigh of relief as Lotus rubbed a sore portion. "Ahh, that's the spot."

"Yeah.", Mystic agreed as he was rubbed on the neck by Aloe.

"I'm surprised you asked me out on this session."

"Hey, what're friends for? Besides, I thought I'd relax a bit and I didn't want to go alone. Also, the coupon did say that it's for two."

"Where'd you get it anyway?"

"It was a gift from Rarity after I helped her when the parasprites were attacking her boutique while I was looking for the recorder Pinkie told me to look for. I did catch her in an uncomfortable position though. Luckily, I was already out before I could be treated to an ear-shattering scream from her."

"Do you plan on inviting her to attend your Academy's classes?"

"Maybe not. She has a pretty tight schedule. She has one or two requests from Canterlot. And I believe she would eventually be bogged down with requests and commissions that she wouldn't have time to attend."

"Yet she has time for the spa."

"Everypony needs downtime, and attending my self-defense classes is not downtime." Mystic gave a yawn. "At least not for the average pony."

"True. I guess I should go to Rarity's after this. You sure you're not going?"

"I don't have a ticket, remember? And I want to keep away from Canterlot anyway, okay?"

Chronicle got curious. "Just what is it in Canterlot that you don't like about it? Aside from perhaps the upper class snobs."

Mystic turned away at this. "It's not the snobs."

"What is it, then?"

"Somepony important there. I got into…serious blows with him. I was there when I had that request in Ponyville's Request Board. I was planning on starting up my Academy in Canterlot when he told me that was not only illegal, but also unnecessary since the place has their own Royal Guard. Next, he offered me a position in their ranks."

"You refused, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh. I wanted my lessons to be available to the average civilian. Joining the royal guard would keep me from achieving that dream. And so I eventually had my stuff moved to Ponyville, where I encountered Pinkie Pie, then finally met you."

"I see. That's why."

C—MS—L—A—C—MS—L—A—C—MS—L—A

Later…

After the treatment, Chronicle encountered Twilight Sparkle (with a pair of saddlebags) and Applejack on their way to Carousel Boutique. Mystic Shield bid farewell and made his way to the Books and Branches Library (renamed Golden Oaks Library after the parasprite infestation) as the bodyguard joined his two friends.

They entered the boutique, but seeing that she wasn't present in the ground floor, they made their way up to the upper story. Coming to one of the doors and hearing the shimmer of a magical aura, Applejack knocked seven times, then opened the door with a, "Howdy, Rarity!"

As they walked in, Twilight shushed her friends as she pointed to the right. Rarity was working on a dress design, her focus evident on the pair of red-framed, tinted eyeglasses on her muzzle. The dress-in-progress showed darker magenta trim and lighter material for the chest and forelegs. The skirt has been built up in layers.

"Can't you see Rarity's trying to concentrate?", Twilight said as the three of them walked up behind her.

"What do you think she's makin'?", Applejack asked, her voice also hushed.

"what do you think?", snarked Chronicle as he glanced at a bed on the other side of the room, where he saw a fluffy white cat resting there. She had violet eyeshadow and a darker bow, matching Rarity's mane, in one tuft of hair atop her head. A jeweled purple collar adorned her neck. _There you are, Opalescence._ Rarity addressed her as Opal for short.

"Looks like a dress.", his charge replied to the farmpony.

"Well, that makes sense since this is a dressmaker's shop and all."

A few seconds later, Rarity turned to face the three with a very polite smile, though Chronicle could tell it was a bit forced as he turned back. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh…so very sorry to trouble you, Rarity, but I need a quick favor.", Twilight said before digging in the bags for a moment. She then pulled out a dress—red, with yellow sleeves—and laid it on a tabletop. One of its buttons had come loose. "Could you please fix a button for me? It's my dress for the Grand Galloping Gala."

Rarity gave a shocked gasp. "Oh, no, no, no! You can't wear this…uh, old thing. You need a glamorous new outfit for the Gala, and I'll make it for you. No problem at all. It would be my pleasure."

"Oh, that's really sweet of you to offer, Rarity, but I can't let you do that. It would be so much work. This dress is fine."

Rarity replied reprovingly, "Twilight Sparkle, I insist on making you a new dress."

"But—" She was waved a hoof in the face.

"Not another word. I won't take no for an answer."

"Well, in that case…thank you for your generosity, Rarity. Knowing your handiwork, I'm sure it will be absolutely beautiful."

"Be careful.", warned Chronicle. "There are those who will take advantage of that. Not that we're gonna do such a thing." He turned to his friends with a stern look. "Right, girls?" The two nodded profusely and the stallion sighed.

Rarity then turned a slightly critical eye toward Applejack. "Let me guess, Applejack. You don't want a new gown either."

"Gown? Shoot. I was just gonna wear my old work duds."

Rarity gave a bigger shocked gasp. "You can't possibly be serious, Applejack! You absolutely must wear formal attire!"

Applejack thought hard for a moment before answering, "Nah."

Rarity gave a smile. "What if I just spruce up your, uh…duds…for you a little bit?"

"Uh…okay, sure, why not? Since you're offerin' and all. Just don't make them too, uh…frou-frou-y."

"Deal!"

"Oh, almost forgot.", Chronicle said. "I was considering making a request for a suit for the Gala, but maybe I should go for a mail-order one." He ended his sentence in a somewhat teasing manner.

Once again, Rarity gave a bigger shocked gasp. "Mail order?! Those sub-par quality suits?! I simply can't allow you to wear those things! Allow me to make a brand new suit for you."

"Well, as long as it isn't gonna make me look like a Little Lord Fauntleroy."

"Who?"

"That blue ensemble you put on me and Spike when you were making favors so that Twilight would give her extra ticket to you."

"Oh don't worry about that. While that's a nice suit, it's not exactly Gala material. Speaking of which, where is it? It certainly hasn't been returned."

Before he could answer— "Look out below!" A voice came.

A panicked yell followed and Rainbow Dash smashed through the ceiling, hitting the floor much too hard for her liking, then bouncing backward and ending up tangled among equinequins and cloth bolts, with a bucket on her head.

"Sorry. New trick. Didn't quite work." Rainbow raised the bucket so that it wasn't covering her left eye, then gave a nervous chuckle.

Just then, Chronicle noticed Rarity think hard. "Hmmm…" This was followed by a sharp gasp, a smile, and a singsong, "Idea!" before resuming normal tone. "I'll make you an outfit for the Gala too, Rainbow Dash!"

Still standing among the mannequins, the pegasus looked back and forth with great confusion. "Outfit for the what, now?"

Rarity started indicating everypony in the room. "I'll make one for you, and you, and all of you!" She jumped in place. "Ooh, and of course Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Mystic too."

"Leave Mystic Shield out of this.", Chronicle cut in. "He has no ticket and would like to stay out of Canterlot for personal reasons."

"Okay. Oh, and when I'm done, we can hold our very own fashion show!"

"What a great idea!", Twilight said. "If you're sure you can handle it."

Rarity levitated the cloth bolts from a rack. "Oh, it'll be a little bit of work, but it'll be a wonderful boost for my business—plus, fun!"

"Oh, I love fun things!", Rainbow agreed.

Rarity then proceeded to lay out the cloth at her worktable, her measuring tape around her neck and at the ready. "Then it's settled. We'll have a fashion show, starring us!" There were cheers from the other girls as she began to cut the fabric.

"Leave **me** out of this one.", Chronicle requested. "I don't want to participate. Although the suit request still stands."

"So all you have to do is make a different, stunnin', original, amazin' outfit for one, two, three, four, five, six, plus yourself—seven ponies? And lickety-split?", Applejack asked.

Rarity gave a chuckle. "Oh, Applejack, you make it sound as if it's going to be hard."

"Be careful with what you say.", Chronicle said. "Because you may come to regret it."

C—TS—A—RD—R—C—TS—A—RD—R—C—TS—A—RD—R

(2) Later…

Twilight and Chronicle were on their way back to the library, leaving Rarity to work on the dresses (and suit). "So, Twilight. I was hoping to construct something down at the lab."

"What is it?"

"Well, I plan to mount it on my back, and it will most probably take the form of Spike."

"I don't see where this is going, but I'm afraid I can't help you there."

"Well, do you know why the basement is full of gadgets and stuff?"

"It was there when I first checked it out."

"Then how do you know how to work the thing you put on Pinkie's head when you tried to analyze the Pinkie Sense?"

"I found some old notes from the last owner. Apparently, he was a bit of a mad scientist."

"And might I tell you that you show shades of this as well. And that worries me."

"You think I might become a mad scientist?"

"I plan on making sure you don't."

They reached the door and opened it to see not only Mystic Shield, but Tricky Books as well, who was at the table reading Supernaturals. Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls That Are Simply Super. The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide rested nearby, which Tricky planned to read next.

"Morning, Chronicle, Twilight Sparkle.", greeted Tricky as they entered the library.

"Morning. What brings you here, uhh, Tricky Books?", Twilight greeted.

"Glad you at least know my name."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's just poking on your asocial tendencies.", Chronicle explained. "That you probably only know the names of your family, close friends, and other important ponies like teachers and such."

"I'm not like that."

"But you **were**. As far as I could tell from my time with you as just your bodyguard." _Before I extended that to the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony and became Mystic Shield's co-teacher in his academy._

"True."

"As for why I'm here, Twilight Sparkle, it's because I wish to expand my knowledge of the world." Tricky paused for a second before levitating the book he had on reserve. "By the way, is this updated? Because given that the sixth element is finally discovered, the book saying it's a complete mystery would…well…" He looked at whom he was talking to, then appended, "Mystic Shield told me of you and your friends' connections to the Elements, and besides, all of Ponyville knows it anyway."

Twilight 'grabbed' the book from Tricky's aura and perused the book. "You're right. I should send a letter to Princess Celestia about this. Thank you, Tricky Books."

"Happy to help in the pursuit of knowledge."

C—TS—MS—TB—C—TS—MS—TB—C—TS—MS—TB

A few hours later…

Chronicle decided to ask something that was nagging in his head for a while. "Say, if you are the scholar type, why did you decide to enroll in Mystic Shield's class with Greatstone, Chrono Cards, and Bullseye?", he asked Tricky Books. While Twilight was also a scholar type, she had incredible magic to "make up for it".

"The four of us are close friends, longer than the seven of you. Besides, it helps to know some self-defense. That's all you need to know."

"Okay."

"Say, when I saw Spike exit a door—he's upstairs right now—I couldn't help but peek and boy was I surprised to see a lab there. Is it okay if we use them?"

Twilight wasn't sure about this. "'We' being…"

"Me, Chrono Cards, Bullseye, and Greatstone. They may not look the intellectual type, but we all have some experience in building stuff, though we're not crazy for it."

"I'll have to think about it.", the librarian confessed. "I'm not exactly comfortable in trusting four strangers to a laboratory I'm not completely familiar with."

"Would you trust us if Chronicle would watch us?"

"I guess. I still have to think about it, though."

"I'll wait."

All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash plowed through the doorway and right into Chronicle, making the two roll for a while and onto the table. "Oww!", the mare-faced stallion complained. It didn't really hurt as much, but he made it look like it did if it would at least make Rainbow be a little more careful next time.

Unfortunately for him, she seemed to know that was what he was up to. "Come on, Chronicle. You're tougher than that, right?"

"Doesn't make it any less painful." The two of them got off one another and brushed themselves of the dust. "Why are you here?"

"Rarity's done with our dresses and wants everypony to her boutique."

"That was fast. And one of them's a suit. I'm a stallion, remember?"

Regardless, Twilight and Chronicle followed Rainbow to Carousel Boutique, leaving Mystic Shield and Tricky Books behind, the former not having intervened in the conversation.

C—TS—RD—MS—TB—C—TS—RD—MS—TB—C—TS—RD—MS—TB

At the upper story of Carousel Boutique…

Rarity backed across the room as she led all of her friends inside with their eyes closed, Pinkie Pie hopping with excitement. "That's it…keep them closed…", she said. "…don't look…" She proceeded to line the six up, who still had their eyes squeezed shut. "Okay, you can look now!"

Twelve eyes opened wide and six throats gasped in surprise at the six equinequins across them, each decked out in an outfit meant for one wearer.

Applejack's had a new brown cowboy hat, a green collar and apple bolo tie, green boots trimmed with red/white on the forelegs, a red saddle with brown trim and a long, fringed underlying green piece that resembled a saddle blanket. Every piece was decorated with apples.

Twilight's had a high-collared royal blue cape, secured by a star brooch at the neckline and gathered into a light blue saddle that sat slightly forward. Stars were sprinkled around the hem, collar, and saddle, and there were star earrings as well.

Fluttershy's had a light green cape, with butterfly brooch and earrings, a light blue shawl looped around the rump, and flowers at the hemline. Matching green sandals with vine-like ties were on the forelegs.

On Rainbow's was a rainbow-striped train with a loop of material under each wing to hold it in place, cloud-like white edging at the hem—which Opal nuzzled happily against—and a grape-bunch brooch. Gold laurels rested atop the head, and the forelegs displayed gold sandals with long ties.

Pinkie's dress had a striped vest secured in front with a large bow, ribbons at the hem, candy corn and lollipops on the skirt's lacy top layer, ribboned shoes, and a pillbox hat. The skirt and the bows on the hat and collar matched the color of its wearer-to-be's mane, the hem ribbon and shoe bows the eyes, and the vest was done in blue-white stripes.

As for Chronicle, his suit is a black tuxedo with yellow buttons and a black cape (lined with red). It was partly open to reveal a white dress shirt. There was also a white cowl with lenses to conceal the eyes, and a black top hat. (3)

"These are your new outfits!", Rarity said as Opal played with the fringe. "What do you think of your old duds now, Applejack? Pretty swanky, are they not?" She gave a giggle as her pet cat went over to the next dress.

"And Twilight, I made this dress for you, and I designed each outfit theme to perfectly reflect each pony's unique personality." Rarity proceeded to the next.

"Oh! It took me forever to get the colors right on this one, Rainbow Dash, but I did it." It can also be seen that Opal loves it too as she moved toward it again. "Oh, and it turned out beautiful, don't you think?"

Opal rolled happily past Fluttershy's ensemble. Rarity gave a gasp, "And I know you're going to love yours, Fluttershy. It just sings spring!"

Opal walked over to the suit, purring with approval. "I haven't got much practice in making new suits, Chronicle, but I can assure you'll look very dashing in this one!"

Opal then moved to the rump of the equinequin wearing Pinkie's dress. "And Pinkie Pie, look! Pink! Your favorite!" Rarity now stood in the center of the floor with all six outfits ranged behind her. "Aren't they all amazing?"

The others just stood there, stunned into total silence for several seconds as she aimed a huge, expectant grin across the room. Finally they began to recover their senses, but their body language gave away various degrees of unease.

Twilight began, "Wow…they're…"

Rainbow agreed. "Yeah, they're…"

"They sure are, uh…somethin'.", Applejack said.

"Yes! Something!", Twilight concurred.

"I love something!", Pinkie said. "Something is my favorite!"

"It's…nice.", Fluttershy answered.

"They…look…great!", Chronicle provided.

Rarity started to catch on, but didn't seem to hear the stallion's comment. "But what's the matter? Don't you like them?"

"They're very nice.", Twilight said.

"And we're plumb grateful 'cause you worked so hard on them.", Applejack supplied.

"They look **absolutely** great!", Chronicle told her.

"Mine's just not as cool as I was imagining.", Rainbow commented, finding herself on the wrong end of annoyed glares from the former three. "She asked."

"I guess what we're all saying is that they're just not what we had in mind.", Twilight explained.

"But I still like them! I couldn't ask for anything less!", Chronicle said, guessing where this might be going to. He was also sincere in his opinion as he looked at the gobsmacked designer, then saw his friends voiced general assent, while Fluttershy pawed nervously at the carpet. Rarity groaned and hung her head for a moment, then brought it up with a slightly pained smile.

"That's okay. Not a problem. There's plenty more where that came from. They were only a first pass. You're my friends, and I want you to be one hundred and ten percent satisfied. Not to worry. I'll redo them!"

Fluttershy said, "Oh, Rarity, you don't have to do that. They're fine."

The designer was already levitating Applejack's new hat and Twilight's earrings off. "I want them to be better than just fine. I want you to think they're absolutely perfect."

"Are you sure?", Applejack asked. "I mean, we wouldn't want to impose."

"I **do** think they're absolutely perfect.", said the sole stallion. "They just don't realize it yet."

Rarity gave a laugh, floating Twilight's dress off and letting it drop "Oh, it's no imposition. Really, I insist!"

As the other mares began to leave, Twilight said, "Well, in that case, thank you again, Rarity."

Seeing that he won't be able to change her mind, Chronicle followed the rest of his friends out, but after he closed the door, he waited until the others were gone, then opened "Surveillance", focusing on Rarity. He saw her face fall as the camera on her zoomed out to frame the six equinequins, all partially or completely stripped. The outfit pieces lay on the floor around them.

"What have I gotten myself into?", the fashion designer asked herself. Opal just meowed plaintively.

"I have a feeling this won't end well.", groaned the sole stallion.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - At a violet backdrop, Chronicle walks in from the left to the center, then 'pulls in' his Gala ensemble from the right. As they collide, a flash of magic obscures them and when it fades, Chronicle is now wearing the suit, looking good. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

The next day, at Mystic Shield's…

After requesting a draft of his suit, Chronicle began to look through it as he stood beside Mystic Shield, who was tutoring his students on double-casting, which (save for his first four) everypony was struggling at doing. After an arduous effort, he decided to give up for today and had them spar before turning to face his co-teacher.

"Chronicle, what are you doing?", he asked.

"I'm going over my suit for the Gala Rarity designed.", Chronicle said. "She insists that I look for flaws in the design, but I don't see any. Seriously, I think it's a miracle the term 'simple' exists in her vocabulary."

Mystic rolled his eyes. "What did she expect from an average stallion? They aren't exactly fashion savvy."

"The ones from Canterlot most likely are. And since I technically came from there as far as she can tell…"

"But you certainly aren't the high-class type."

"But I was Twilight Sparkle's charge, and I saw that her family is high class when I met them."

"That's not valid reasoning."

"Meh, I'm not too concerned about it."

Mystic paused for a while, turned to see his students practicing, then turned back to Chronicle to ask another question. "So… you're not from Canterlot?"

"Not really." Telling the truth was out of the question, so he decided to use a cover story. "I've only been in Canterlot for two years. I lived elsewhere before joining my family there to become a bodyguard."

"And were you from?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay. But, a bodyguard for two years? You look a bit young for such a serious job."

"Well, the art I learned is different from conventional bodyguards, but all I can tell you about it is that it's a family secret."

Mystic just stared at him, giving a suspicious look before resuming normal composure. "I can tell you're not telling me the entire truth, but I won't delve in. It's not like I need to know right now at least."

"Thank you." Chronicle turned back to the draft and 'took out' a pencil from "hammerspace", then proceeded to make some notes. "Let's see… The suit must not hinder mobility. The cowl must not impair vision. Color must go well with blue coat and yellow-and-orange mane and tail."

Just then, the door creaked open and somepony entered the academy, although she wasn't noticed until she walked up to where the two teachers of the Academy were.

Chronicle managed to notice her in his peripheral and greeted her first. "Fluttershy.", he said as he turned to face her. "What brings you here?"

"Umm…Rarity wants you to come over and—"

"Give her suggestions on improvements on my suit?" Fluttershy just nodded, then turned to Mystic since Chronicle wouldn't go off on his own without his permission.

"All right.", Mystic conceded. "It's been a slow day, anyway. Go."

C—F—MS—C—F—MS—C—F—MS—C—F—MS

At Carousel Boutique…

Chronicle opened the door to see Rarity, hard at work behind a sewing machine (to his slight puzzlement) and with her mane noticeably disheveled. "You wanted to see me, Rarity?", he asked.

"Ah, yes, Chronicle!", the fashion designer greeted as she stopped the machine and crossed the room. "Your new new suit's ready! I revised it, and I know you're going to love it!"

"We'll see."

In a while, Chronicle was dressed up, looking spiffy. Although he didn't tell her that his vision's a bit dimmed from the cowl.

"What do you think?", Rarity asked.

"What do I think? I love it." He was sincere in his opinion, although there was a twinge of doubt.

Unfortunately for him, Rarity sensed that twinge. "Oh, you're just saying that."

"No, no, I do. It's great."

Rarity was not convinced. "Great."

"Great.", Chronicle repeated.

"If you don't like it, you should just tell me."

While he wasn't afraid of many things, Rarity was making Chronicle nervous right now with her impatience. "I do like it."

"Like it or love it?"

"Does it matter which?"

Rarity's answer was to continue advancing, and Chronicle backed up before the eyes behind the tinted lenses before realizing _Hey, what the hay am I doing?_ and stopped, bumping heads with the fashion designer and locking horns.

"Which is it?", she asked.

"Does it really matter?"

Rarity began to push harder. "Well, just tell me what you really think."

Chronicle did likewise. "I am satisfied with the suit you made for me."

Rarity pushed harder again. "Tell me the truth!"

Chronicle countered this as well and they both continued at this shove-of-war. "It **is** the truth!"

"Tell me!"

"I just told you!"

With mounting fervor, Rarity continued, "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!" She then pushed with such force that Chronicle was sent flying to the wall behind him, which he was close to and thus not much was exerted.

The force left him a little dazed, and a bit surprised that without magical enhancements, Rarity was stronger than he was physically. "Oww…for the last time, I'm perfectly satisfied with the suit you have made for me. No changes are necessary!" Rarity just gave him an angry stare that was borderline murderous. Seeing that he would not be able to leave without an answer, he sighed in defeat and 'procured' the draft from "hammerspace". "…If you're so desperate for a change, here it is." He 'gave' the draft to Rarity, which she took. "That's all I'm gonna ask. I will not give anymore demands…except if you can add a false rose to the ensemble. Other than that, I want no other changes, capische?"

C—R—C—R—C—R—C—R—C—R—C—R

Later…

With Mystic Shield's classes over for today, Chronicle decided to go over at Mjölna's place, where he remembered to pay up the last portion for his shield. They were at the doorway of the house as usual, Mjölna inside and Chronicle outside.

"Here you go, Mjölna.", he said as he 'passed' the pouch of bits to her, which she caught in her mouth. "I'm sorry I forgot about the portion payment."

"It's all right.", assured the earth pony. "As long as it does get paid in the end, I'm all right with it."

"Thanks. Say, do you make armor as well?"

Mjölna beamed at this all of a sudden. "Armor? Sure thing! In fact, I can make better armor than those worn by the Canterlot Royal guard!"

"You serious?"

"Well, in terms of defense at least. Speed leaves a lot to be desired. Those gold armor the guards wear are actually just for show. I mean, it's not like the Princess actually needs them to defend her."

"Well, there's still crowd control. And I've seen them apprehend whatever few criminals I've seen when I lived in Canterlot."

"When a combatant is skilled enough and/or agile enough, defense becomes less necessary. I saw what they were capable of when I took a trip there once. In a fight against thugs, they got what it takes. Against bigger threats however—and I don't mean Nightmare Moon-level ones, but Ursa Minor-sized ones—they won't succeed without moderate injuries or stress."

"Stress?"

"Unicorn magic, remember?"

"Ah, right. I'm guessing the armor you make is heavy, right?"

"Uh-huh. However…wait here." Mjölna went inside for a minute before coming out with a book on her hand. Judging from the title, it seems to cover possible materials for weapons and armor apart from iron and steel. "Open it on page 97."

Chronicle 'picked up' the book and flipped the pages until he was where Mjölna directed him. "Hold on a second…this…is…"

"Like I said, making armor ain't cheap.", Mjölna reminded.

"Guess so. Still, I don't know if I could even ask Rarity to help in this. I heard she mines her own gems and has a spell designed on finding them, but I don't think her spell covers this. Are there any…uncommon substitutes?"

"I'm not sure. Say, I was about to return that book to the library, but after the parasprite attack…well…I was lucky to keep it intact once they started eating everything else."

"I see. Thanks." With that, Chronicle made his way back to the library with the book. As he opened the door, he saw Twilight Sparkle reading a book on constellations.

"Chronicle.", Twilight greeted. "You're back."

"As if I'd leave Ponyville without telling anypony?" Chronicle 'passed' the book to her as he walked in. "Mjölna's having this book returned. She managed to keep it safe from the parasprites."

Twilight 'took' the book and returned it to a shelf. "I'll be sure to thank her. Many books have been destroyed from the attack. I'm grateful you were able to at least save all of the very rare ones. Countless knowledge would've been lost if they took it."

"That's what I had in mind. Luckily, they didn't get to the basement where I hid the books. Spike took care of that. As it turns out, parasprites hate fire. Thankfully, none of them ended up being sent to the Princess."

"Dragon fire doesn't spread like normal fire unless Spike wants it to."

"Really? I've always wondered the differences between it and normal fire."

"There are plenty of things we still don't know about dragons."

_And from what Spike told about himself, I probably can't ask him._

Just then, Rainbow Dash entered through the doorway, but this time Chronicle was ready and put up a barrier around himself, which she slammed into. "Rainbow Dash. When will you stop slamming into stuff?"

"Rarity's calling.", the pegasus answered, ignoring the stallion's question. "She wants us all at her boutique. She's done with the new dresses."

"Finally!", Twilight explained with excitement.

"Let's get this over with.", Chronicle sighed.

C—TS—RD—M—C—TS—RD—M—C—TS—RD—M

Back at Carousel Boutique…

"Okay. I did exactly what each of you asked for.", Rarity said as all of her friends were gathered at the ground-floor showroom. "Now don't hold back." The six 'customers' were lined up staring ahead incredulously at the new outfits—which Opal is now hissing at save for one. "Let me know what you really think." As the fussy cat swiped at the hem of one and then made a vomiting impression at another, the mares began to voice their opinions.

"Oh, my!" Twilight.

"It's perfect!" Fluttershy.

"It's cool!" Rainbow.

"Why, they're the best duds I ever did see." Applejack.

"It's exactly what I asked for!" The five.

As for Chronicle, while his eyes were easy on his suit, he couldn't stand what he saw from the others and ran over to the window to catch some air, recovering from the shock he got. _If anything, Rainbow Dash's looks cool in a different way. Other than that, they all look ridiculous for a fashion show._

As he heard Rarity sigh in relief, he turned back—averting his gaze on his friends' dresses—to see his charge walk up to her. "Thank you, Rarity.", she said as Pinkie hopped over with a little gasp.

"Are you as happy with them as we are? Huh, huh, huh?"

As Pinkie backed off, the white unicorn gave her careful answer, "Well, I'm…happy that all of you are happy. I'm just relieved to finally be done." Rarity then turned to the lone stallion in the boutique, grinning. "Chronicle, what about you?"

The stallion—still keeping his gaze off of his friends' dresses—turned to face her and answered between deep breaths, "It's…perfect."

"You don't look like you think it is."

"Sorry. …It's…just…that…" He never got to finish as the front door opened, revealing Spike, who had just entered and was trying to catch his breath. It took him a moment to get enough air into his lungs to speak.

"You are never gonna believe this! You've heard of Hoity Toity?"

"The bigwig fashion hotshot in Canterlot?", Twilight asked.

"Uh-huh! He heard about your fashion show—well, maybe I happened to mention it to him."

Chronicle was somewhat amazed. _Wow. I had no idea Spike knew how to contact him._

"He's coming here, all the way from Canterlot, to see your work, Rarity!"

Applejack's eyes popped at this. "Whoa, nelly! You could sell a ton of dresses to this guy! Your business will be boomin'!"

As the others began to voice their joy for Rarity, Chronicle turned to the dresses again, made as if to barf, then turned to the window once again to cat his breath.

"Hoity Toity?", Rarity said with unease. "He's coming here? To see these dresses?"

"Yep.", Spike agreed. "Get ready for all your dreams to come true.

The blue stallion, who had to tolerate a lot of burdens over his time in Ponyville, but never something like this, turned to the harried fashion maven, whose eye began to twitch uncontrollably at this news. _It's going to be such a disaster. I just know it._

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP

Later that night…

Refusing to take part in the fashion show, Chronicle stood just outside Carousel Boutique. A runway had been set up, leading from the front door—which now had a set of elaborate curtains set up across it—to a small stage on the lawn. At first, only Bon Bon, Cloud Kicker, Minuette, and another pegasus pony were with him, but within seconds a lot of familiar faces gathered for the fashion show, followed by nearly every Ponyvillian, as well as a few outsiders who happened to be in town.

He could see Opal peek out from the curtain, followed by Rarity puts her head out as well. She had put away her glasses and measuring tape, but her mane was still very much out of order.

"Oh…" Rarity gave a sharp gasp. "There he is!"

Chronicle turned to where she was looking and saw a dark blue-gray earth pony stallion making his way through the crowd. He wore white jacket lapels edged in black and secured with gold studs, a dark magenta ascot, and mirrored sunglasses. His long mane and tail were striped white/light gray and carefully styled, the former tied in a loose ponytail that hung forward over one shoulder, and he had a folded paper fan as a cutie mark.

Hoity Toity's passage prompted hushed murmurings from the onlookers as he came to the edge of the stage. Clapping his front hooves, which were clad in white shirt cuffs secured with gold studs, brought another stallion up—who either looked like or was Doctor Whooves—to nose a cushion into place. Hoity sat down a bit too quickly, though, and the servant got most of his face squashed into the ground.

Chronicle turned back to face Rarity, who was taking a few deep breaths to try and settle herself. "Okay…relax, Rarity…your friends like their outfits, and so will he.", he heard her say. Just then, the lights dimmed, prompting her to cry out in fear. "What's wrong with the lights?" She then calmed down. "Oh, yes, that means the show's starting. Good." She then pulls her head back through the curtain.

As the music started, Chronicle turned to see a DJ's turntable, behind which an off-white unicorn mare could be seen, who bore a long unruly mane striped in light and electric blue and whose eyes were hidden behind violet shades. He recognized her and knew that her cutie mark was two beamed notes in black.

_If it isn't DJ P0N-3, also known as Vinyl Scratch._, he thought as he watched her levitate the needle (in a blue aura) to rest on one of the records and nod her head in time with the music's soft groove. From what he remembered, she is a famous disc jockey in Canterlot, popular among those who were not high-class snobs and even to a few who are. In fact, from what he heard from a previous charge of his—a real gossip girl—the DJ has an affair with a classical musician in spite of their clashing genres. And nopony has seen her eye color either.

His thoughts were interrupted by a spotlight in a cluster fixture above the runway snapping on, followed by the rest of them; the glare completely whiting out his vision for a moment.

"Since the beginning of time, the elite of Equestria have longed for pony fashions that truly express the essence of their very souls.", he heard Spike say in a dramatic way as his vision cleared.

Chronicle gave a mental groan as he glimpsed the spotlights rove here and there. _Oh, being such a large ham. Spike sure knows his stuff._

"Patiently waiting decades—no, centuries—for the perfect pony gown. Today at long last, Equestria, your wait is over. Let's hear it…" The curtain went up to expose the silhouettes of five ponies, standing before a backdrop that depicted Rarity's eyes framed by a curly lock of her mane. The latter was shaped to resemble a capital letter R without the vertical stroke at the left. "…for the breathtaking designs of Ponyville's own…Rarity!" The lights then came up on Spike's last word to fully illuminate his five friends—the pegasi hovering above the other three.

It was everything Chronicle could do not to retch at the sight, although he seemed to be adapting to it. Now, it was just a mere eyesore.

For Twilight, she had a purple gown, decorated with the sun, moon, and constellations (technically accurate), covering everything except the head and tail. She had star earrings, a brooch, and tail clip, with a blue-green collar and bow on the tail, and a headdress consisting of stars on antennas.

For Pinkie, she had a green blouse, with a huge, pale yellow bow at her neckline and a ruffled, light blue skirt that resembled a ballerina's tutu. There were yellow bows on all four hooves, a cupcake-shaped hat, and a bunch of balloons tied to her tail.

For Applejack, she had a getup that resembled a pair of denim overalls in front and a garishly checkered horse blanket in the back, with patches and small saddlebags. She wore four yellow galoshes, a green bandana, and a bright red ten-gallon hat whose band displayed a green apple.

For Fluttershy, she had a voluminous, light green, flower-patterned cape with a darker green hem, a huge flower collar, green shoes, and a hat styled as a bird's nest complete with eggs and stand-up flowers.

Finally, for Rainbow, she had a gold-trimmed, lightning-bolt-topped helmet whose rainbow-striped crest was swept straight back from her head, and four winged gold sandals with rainbow leggings. She wore a red collar secured with gold clips to a small triangular saddle/blanket piece on her back that displayed a cloud and lightning bolt.

Their advance onto the runway was marked by a collective gasp and shocked murmurs from the audience. As the five models reached the center of the stage, which slowly began to rotate, Chronicle could see the onlookers reacting with varying degrees of revulsion.

"Talk about tacky, huh?", a voice came. Chronicle turned to his right and saw Mystic Shield.

"Yeah.", the blue stallion agreed.

Mystic turned to his co-teacher. "Is yours like theirs?"

"Hardly. Although Rainbow Dash's outfit looks cool. Just not fashion show material."

The self-defense teacher turned back to the models. "I'll have to agree with you there."

Applejack was first to catch on to something being amiss. "Why's everypony lookin' at us like that?", she asked softly, though Chronicle was close enough to hear, actually just below them.

Twilight began to eye her own clothing with sudden concern. "Oh, dear."

Rainbow turned to the orange earth pony. "You think we overdid it?"

"Nah."

"Ya think?!", snarked Chronicle.

Applejack immediately had second thoughts upon eying those four thick-soled galoshes—and the other four soon began to share her sentiments. "Okay. Maybe a little."

Chronicle (and Mystic) turned to Hoity, who spoke in an accent the former identified as the "Long Island Lockjaw" as the music stopped. "Oh, those amateurish designs look like a piled-on mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink!" There was laughter from the crowd. Upon later peeking via Surveillance, it would turn out that there indeed was a kitchen sink with Rarity, who moved it away with a cringing expression as Opal sat near her. "It's a **travesty**, it's what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest things I've ever seen, oh, for shame! Who is responsible for subjecting our eyes to these horrors—not to mention wasting my valuable time?"

Spike jumped out onto the runway and beckoned toward the backstage area. "Come on out and take a bow, Rarity! You worked really hard for this." She emerges, head hung low, as he applauded. "Yes! All right! Woo-hoo! Go, Rarity!"

Immediately, Chronicle teleported close to him and whispered, "Spike! Do you even realize what Hoity just said?! You just subjected her to a huge amount of humiliation."

Spike turned to see his "beloved" as the spotlight followed her long, lonely procession down the runway and past the murmuring spectators. On the still-rotating stage, one face after another began to fall at the realization that this show had become a public train wreck.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—HT

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - At the walkway, the five walk from the right to the left in their "tacky" outfits in double speed. The show's logo is seen on the upper right while the "fast forward" symbol of two triangles pointing to the right is on the upper left. The music is also played at fast forward.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—HT

Days later…

In the hallway outside the closed door of Rarity's upper-story room in the Carousel Boutique Rarity's six friends stood, the five models out of their dresses, much to the stallion's relief.

Pinkie Pie knocked on the door. "Rarity? You okay in there?" She then put her ear to it. "You haven't come out for days."

"I'm never coming out!", Rarity cried out from inside and Pinkie backed off. "I can't show my face in Ponyville ever again!" Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash then approached the door as the designer continued to lament. "I used to be somepony. I used to be respected. I made dresses—beautiful, beautiful dresses. But now everypony is laughing at me. I'm nothing but a laughingstock!" This was followed by sobbing.

"You're not a laughingstock, Rarity.", Twilight assured.

"She kind of is!", Rainbow said to her.

"And whose fault was that?!", Chronicle scolded.

His charge shushed them both, then turned back to the door. "Come on out and talk to us."

Rarity was still sobbing as she replied, "Leave me alone! I vant to be alone! I want to wallow in…whatever it is that ponies are supposed to wallow in!" Chronicle smacked himself in the face at this. "Do ponies wallow in pity? Oh, listen to me! I don't even know what I'm supposed to wallow in!" She sobbed harder. "I'm so pathetic!"

Back outside, everypony else was at a loss. "If Rarity weren't our friend, I would've been having fun listening at this brand of melodrama.", Chronicle sighed as he stepped back.

"Now what do we do?", Twilight asked the others.

"Uh, panic?", Fluttershy suggested.

"That's your answer for everything!", Rainbow groaned.

"Well, we can't just leave Rarity like this.", Applejack said as she gestured to the door.

"She'll become a crazy cat lady!", Pinkie added.

"She only has one cat.", Twilight told her.

"Give her time…"

Twilight then decided to step forward and put an eye to the keyhole. She gave a "Hmmm…" of thought, then withdrew her face, only for Chronicle to follow her example. From what he could see, there were stripped equinequins, a rack of materials, Rarity crying on her bed while wearing a pink robe and bedroom slippers (with her mane a tangle of random curls), and what seemed to be a half-finished gown meant for her on its dummy, apparent from a sketch tacked to the bulletin board.

_I think I know what Twilight's up to…_

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

An undetermined amount of time later…

Rarity was standing resignedly before her mirror. "Exile. I guess technically I'd have to move away to live in exile. Where would I go? And what would I pack? Oh, it's going to take me forever to do all of that packing. What are you supposed to pack when you go into exile? Are you supposed to pack warm?" Her wallow in the pity pool was interrupted by a loud, frightened meow. "Huh? Opal?"

The meow repeated itself as she walked to the window and opened it for a better view. After a panicked look left and right, she turned to a nearby tree branch—and saw Opal there, shaking like a leaf and keeping a death grip on the wood. "Opal, how did you get up there? Hang on, you poor dear. Mama's coming!"

In an instant, she burst through the door, only to skid to a stop with a huge gasp. Rainbow Dash was up on the tree as well, sitting on a branch not far from the cat, who tossed a slightly vexed glance her way.

"Rainbow Dash? How dare you strand my poor Opal in a tree!"

"Well, how else were we gonna get you out here to show you this?" The pegasus pointed one way and the unicorn glanced there to see all her other friends back away to reveal the equinequin they were hiding.

The ensemble consisted of a full two-layer magenta skirt trimmed with jewels and light yellow sashes, a blouse of a lighter shade, a deep magenta collar with additional yellow trim, a cape trim, foreleg sleeve cuffs, and a gold tiara with jeweled earrings.

Rarity could only stammer at the sight. "What is it…it's not…you…" She then gave a lung-inflating gasp.

"We all finished your dress for you!", Pinkie explained.

"Thanks to Fluttershy's freaky knowledge of sewin'.", Applejack said.

"Though her know-how on design leaves much to be desired.", Chronicle added. "I mean, 'blanket stitch on a gala dress'? Half of the critique she gave out on you, which she had allowed me to look through, was complete nonsense." The others stared at him in puzzlement, which he noted. "I didn't deem it important to tell you I once had a charge who was a designer like Rarity. By the end of my contract, I have unnecessarily memorized a lot of terms concerning design, but didn't reveal it because and I don't really care too much about fashion and if I did my suit would've ended up just like those…disasters."

There was a moment of silence before they put this bit of trivia aside.

Fluttershy then spoke up with a blush. "Do you like it?"

Rarity was listless. "Like it…" She walked cautiously around to see the outfit from the back side. "Like it…", she repeated, with some life in her voice.

"Uh-oh. She doesn't like it."

"No, I don't like it." There were "Awww…"s from the girls and a groan from the only stallion in the group. "I **love** it!"

The girls cheered at this while Chronicle thought, _Didn't see that coming._

"You ponies did an amazing job! It's exactly the way I imagined it!"

"We just followed your brilliant design.", Fluttershy said.

"Like we should've let you do for our outfits. Those first dresses you designed were perfect., confessed Twilight.

"We're so super-sorry.", said Pinkie as Rainbow flew down with Opal on her back.

"You worked really hard to make our dresses exactly the way we wanted them—and we all saw how well that turned out."

"And it was stupid of me to not point it out and solve the problem before it got to this level.", finished Chronicle.

Rarity moved close so Opal can jump to her, then addressed everypony. "Oh, I forgive you."

"Well, that's mighty big of you.", said Applejack.

Suddenly, Rarity went distraught, putting a hoof to her forehead. "But my whole career is still ruined!"

"Oh. Right. That."

Twilight turned her attention away from the tableau and to the corner of the building, where Hoity Toity was standing. "Maybe not."

"All right, I haven't got all day.", said the style expert.

"I also called in a few favors.", Chronicle told Rarity. "After all, I don't think one fashion critic will be enough to get your reputation back."

"Who did you call?"

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—HT—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—HT

Later, at the ground floor showroom…

As Opal batted the curled end of Hoity's ponytail like a ball of yarn, Rarity—now properly groomed and out of her robe—faced the style expert uncertainly, then gazed at some hastily-made bleachers.

There, a small audience was gathered, consisted of a select few Ponyvillians, among them Mystic Shield, a couple of his students, and some of their companions. (4) They all observed the closed curtain in the middle of the room, a few expectantly, many uncertain given the last show.

"Take two!", Hoity said as he tossed his head back, startling Opal into leaving his mane alone. Rarity looked across the room, the signal for Spike to close the window drapes, shrouding the room in shadow.

**[screen mode]**

{Fade in to a close-up of Rarity, eyes closed and horn blazing, and zoom out. She takes a few steps forward, away from the curtain, and the screen fills with purple light around her. Hoity and the audience gasp softly at the sight; when the view clears, it has shifted to a night sky filled with flying stars. Several of these settle onto the hem of Twilight's first dress in close-up, with four light-blue shoes visible beneath it. Zoom out to frame all of her, turned mostly away from the camera; she rears up briefly, pivoting to face front and put herself in profile as fireworks burst behind her.}

{The background dissolves to the showroom and the opened curtain that surrounds Twilight.}

Hoity: (from off-screen) Hello… (Cut to him, lowering his sunglasses, exposing a pair of blue eyes behind the mirrored lenses) …oh, this can't be the same designer.

Chronicle: Oh, but it is.

{Hoity turns around to find the speaker, but is unable to pinpoint his location. The dress hem waves across the view, one of its stars flying loose and growing to flood the screen with white. Fade in to the brilliant sun in a clear blue sky and zoom out to frame it shining over Sweet Apple Acres. A pan across the laden trees brings one sparkling red apple into full focus; it is quickly lassoed, pulled loose, and whipped away. The other end of the rope is in Applejack's teeth, and she lets it go as the background becomes a light green checked pattern accented with red apples. After a quick rear-up, she crosses one foreleg over the other and smiles with narrowed eyes, showing off her original outfit. Her mane and tail have been braided.}

Hoity: (from off-screen, as curtain dissolves into view around her) Simply magnificent! (Cut to him.) And I suddenly have a fierce craving for some Dutch apple pie, candied apples on a stick, apple turnovers, apple cobbler…

Audience: Mmmm…

{A mass of clouds moves into view, blocking him out. Candies of all sorts begin to rain down, and candy corn kernels and lollipops settle onto the lace trim around the blue/white-striped vest of Pinkie's original dress. The pink bow drops neatly into place on her pillbox hat; in extreme close-up, she sticks out her tongue to catch a gumdrop and eats it blissfully. Zoom out to frame her, standing in a meadow amid confections that seem to have sprouted up from the grass. She wears pink, blue-bowed shoes on all four hooves. As she beams for the camera, the scenery dissolves to the open curtain. Back to Hoity.}

Hoity: Brilliant!

{An o.s. lightning strike nearly sends his shades flying off his head; cut to it—cycling quickly through the colors of the rainbow. When it lets up, a wisp of smoke floats into view and crosses the cloudless sky toward the sun; once it gets there, it and the heavenly body both vanish to leave the sky gray. Shafts of light in different hues pierce the gloom one by one and blend to form a rainbow, which resolves into the billowing, cloud-trimmed train of Rainbow's first-run outfit. She flies confidently along, her mane tied back in a loose bunch and longer than usual, and glides to a stop as the curtain dissolves into view around her. Cut to Hoity.}

Hoity: Oh, spectacular!

{He is caught off guard by the green tendrils that snake up from the bottom of the screen. The rest of the view fades away as these begin to sprout leaves and burst into bloom; the flower petals then fall away at once and become a shower through which butterflies flit here and there. One comes to rest by Fluttershy's ear and the flowers woven into her mane, becoming an earring, and the camera backs up to frame her standing demurely amid the flowers in her "Mark I" dress. She now wears green sandals on all four hooves, but only the front ones have vine-like straps. The curtain dissolves into view around her. Cut to Hoity.}

Hoity: (clapping, accompanied by the audience) Now this is a fashion show! Oh, these dresses are absolutely amazing! (looking around) Who is responsible? Step forward, show yourself!

{A blaze of light from o.s. forces him to shield his eyes. It is coming from Rarity's horn, and a zoom out reveals that she has donned her own dress, tied her mane as in her sketch, and taken a position alone before the closed curtain. Her horn throws spots of light on the walls and floor that dance like the reflections from a disco ball. These die down as the curtain opens to reveal the other five ponies—with the addition of Chronicle donning his suit—who hold their places as she steps proudly to the edge of the floor.}

Hoity: (from o.s.) Brava! Brava! (Cut to frame him, her, and Opal; he claps wildly.) Magnifico! Encore!

{At the bleachers, the audience follow suit, each of their faces displaying express delight and joy.}

Rarity: Oh, thank you! Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!

**[end screen mode]**

"But might I ask…", Hoity appended. "Why did this dashing mare not have an entrance like the rest?" His face seemed to contort a bit in wonder, perhaps on why a mare would wear something meant for a stallion's.

"I specifically asked Miss Rarity not to include me in the lineup.", Chronicle answered. "Plus, in spite of how I look and sound, I'm a stallion." He proceeded to 'take off' his cowl and hat and give a look.

This revelation caught the style expert a little off guard as his eye twitched for a bit behind the shades. There were a few knowing giggles from the audience.

C—TS—T—M—LH—AS—LH—S—GH—BB—A—RD—R—F—PP—D—DH—G—MS—B–CC—M—BP—HT

After the show…

As usual, while the audience started to leave, Twilight started to dictate a letter to Spike, who wrote diligently as always.

"Dear Princess Celestia… This week, my very talented friend Rarity learned that if you try to please everypony, you oftentimes end up pleasing nopony, especially yourself. And I learned this. When somepony offers to do you a favor like making you a beautiful dress, you shouldn't be overly critical of something generously given to you. In other words, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

This last sentence got Chronicle's thoughts in high gear as he thought of the implications. _Wait! Slavery was legal here?! Oh wait. __**Was.**__ Right. And it would be rude to stare down the throat of someone who's giving you a present anyway._ He shook his head as his charge laughed to herself, then said to Spike, "Don't send that scroll just yet. Add a P.S.." He then dictated, "Don't interfere in an artist's creative process."

"May I send it now?", asked Spike.

"Yes you may." With that, Spike rolled up the scroll and hit it with his fire breath to send it on. The smoke drifted out the window and past Hoity, who crossed to Rarity, whose cat was nuzzling at her feet. "Rarity, my congratulations to you on a most impressive fashion debut.", he said. "Would you do me the great honor of allowing me to feature your couture in my Best of the Best Boutique in Canterlot?" Her eyes steadily widened as these words made their way from ear to brain, and she gasped ecstatically after the last of them. "Now, I'll need you to make a dozen of each dress for me by next Tuesday."

Rarity's joyful reverie went straight out the window when these words make the trip from ear to brain—seventy-two dresses that quickly? The only response she could muster up was a combination of a gasp, a twitchy eye, and the sort of unstrung giggle that might turn into a crying jag at any moment.

"I might have to advise against that large a demand, sir.", Chronicle put in as he approached Hoity.

"And whyever would that be the case?"

"Let me tell you how all this began…"

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Trivia: Why did Blue Diary trip? He's clumsy on four feet, thus he usually keeps to the air, moreso than Rainbow Dash.  
(2) I was actually considering changing again to the _Team Fortress 2_ world, where the Medic would be singing "Medic's Success" (check it on YouTube), but I decided otherwise.  
(3) As a 'first draft', I decided to have Chronicle don a ponified version of what Tuxedo Mask of the _Sailor Moon_ animé wears. I have plans on requesting a commission for something for him to wear at the Gala and intend to have the artist make something up after I give him an idea on what Chronicle's supposed to be. After all, taking the lesson we have just learned into account…  
(4) A roster of the audience just for fun if the break isn't enough indication (as it probably wouldn't): Graphite, Mjölna, Mystic Shield, Chrono Cards, Bullseye, Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Golden Harvest, Derpy and Dinky Hooves, Amethyst Star, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Minuette, Berry Punch.

nightelf37: I hope you liked how I ended it. See ya on Third!


	17. Chapter 13: Fall Weather Friends

Disclaimer: I own only the following: Chronicle, Mystic Shield, Timerity, Blue Diary (both not appearing in this chapter), the one-shot character here, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 13: Wall Weather Friends**

In the dreamscape…

Chronicle meditated, just like he did some nights before the prospect of visiting his siblings came up. Glowing ripples emerged underneath his feet as if he were stepping on a very shallow and very large puddle.

_I miss meditation. It really helps soothe the mind._

Suddenly, he sensed something not from his dreamscape coming. Rather than 'open his eyes' and look, he continued meditating as he tried to pinpoint the location of the disturbance. He hasn't been able to improve on it much and still has a bit of trouble meditating in regular environments. Finding the source, he 'launched' a 'shuriken' skyward…hitting a thundercloud that wasn't there before.

"Ahh!", a female voice came, but not Timerity's or his mother's, not that his mother had visited him yet. A second later, Chronicle stepped a few paces away from his current position, and the intruder fell where he would've been, kicking up dust as she crashed.

When it cleared, he saw that the intruder had the same cutie mark as he did, indicating that she was a member of at least the Story Crew if not the Timer family. He also saw that intruder has the form of a pegasus mare, with an orange coat, a medium-length platinum blond mane with a "peek-a-bang" hiding hiding her left eye, and a matching tail that was longer than Fluttershy's, and was even styled like hers.

After getting up and coughing, she shook the dust off of her, looked up at Chronicle, then said, "Sorry, Cousin Timmy."

He groaned at this. "And you are…" The Timer family was rather extended, perhaps even comparable to the Apple family in Equestria. Unlike Applejack, he wasn't completely familiar with all its members.

"Kitty. But my pony name is Ginger Cloud." (1)

"That's a strange name for a pony. At least mine and Blue Diary are somewhat passable."

"And yet your sister takes the name Timerity and that isn't strange enough. A mix of the words 'time' and 'temerity'."

"Point taken." Ginger then swished her long tail, which was very prehensile, and produced a small glass vial containing a white liquid. This surprised the unicorn somehow. "Did you make that out of the dreamscape? Because we're in mine and you couldn't have."

"Actually, I pulled it from hammerspace." Ginger then balanced the vial on the tip of her tail.

"Like Pinkie Pie?"

"Who?" Ginger lost focus and the vial smashed into the 'floor', creating a white cloud.

"Pink earth pony who constantly defies the laws of physics. Bears the Element of Laughter, at least in my Equestria. Oh wait." Chronicle smacked himself in the face. "I forgot to ask which one you're assigned to. Maybe she doesn't exist there."

Ginger hopped backwards and onto her cloud. "I was recently assigned to Recast Equestria, where Twilight Sparkle bears the Element of Magic and is Princess Celestia's student. From what your sister told me, her origin is the same as yours. However, ]instead of the other five **you** are familiar with bearing the other elements, she befriends five stallions."

"Charming."

The orange pegasus then started wishing her tail like a rotor and started circling Chronicle. "As for your earlier question, did you know that non-unicorns have access to a small pocket of hammerspace?"

"No, I didn't." The unicorn stayed in place as his eyes followed his cousin until she was behind him. "Although I did question where my…farmer friend gets her lasso." His eyes focused on Ginger once she came full circle. "I usually thought she got it from under her hat, but I couldn't find a logical reason nor could I locate it after borrowing it after I saw her use it." _And the issue of Apple Bloom's school items. I never see her with saddlebags whenever she, or the other Cutie Mark Crusaders for that matter, goes to school._

"Well, while it doesn't work like the unicorns' magicspace, earth ponies and pegasi do have it."

"Well, that's interesting. Any reason why you're here? Apart from my sister and younger brother, Uncle Tycho was the first visitor."

"You mean Clockwork in Rainbow Equestria?"

"Yes."

"Well, I got news about him. He's already finished in his mission."

"And by that, you mean…" Although Chronicle felt like he knew as Ginger stopped circling him.

"Meaning he's no longer in Rainbow Equestria. Although it's still being 'watched'."

"Ah." By 'watched', it means that the Story Crew haven't stopped surveillance on it; they just withdrew their Field Operative. "…Say, you wanna spar?"

Ginger shook her head. "No. Unlike your immediate family and Cousin Rokuban's, I'm not trained in combat, but when I do need to fight, I use this." She tapped a hoof on the cloud she was on.

"Lightning bolts from clouds?", Chronicle guessed.

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure if Blue Diary knows this hammerspace thing yet. Why don't you go see him?", the unicorn suggested.

"That's a great idea. Thanks.", Ginger then moved to flap her wings. "See ya!" With that, Ginger took to the 'sky', taking the cloud with her as she shortly disappeared.

Once she was gone, Chronicle thought to himself, "Hmm…speaking of Rokuban, I wonder how he's doing? Darn, I don't know how to travel to unfamiliar dreamscapes. I should ask Blue or Timerity on this."

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

Daytime at Sweet Apple Acres…

For some reason one day, Chronicle was somehow strong-armed by Rainbow Dash into playing horseshoe toss with her and Applejack. The three of them were at the throwing line and the pegasus was first to go. Rainbow picked her cyan horseshoe up with her teeth, then tossed it at the horseshoes court ahead, where the stake was driven in. When the shoe landed close to the stake, the pegasus somersaulted in the air.

"Woo-hoo!"

"Hoo-wee! Not a bad pitch for a pony who works with her head in the clouds.", Applejack remarked as Chronicle 'picked up' a red shoe, then 'set' it on his horn. Being a unicorn, a handicap was set on him for this game; no using of magic.

"Oh, yeah? Think you can do better, cowgirl?", Rainbow retorted as the unicorn moved his head so that the shoe began to spin in his horn, then he let loose. The shoe bounced once before landing just short of Rainbow's throw.

"I know I can." A tap of Applejack's hoof flipped a yellow shoe up from the ground; catching it in her teeth, she let fly. It landed well short of the previous two throws. "Oh, for Pete's sake!"

"Hah! Looks like this pegasus can pitch better than the workhorse." On the end of this, Rainbow flipped Applejack's hat forward from the back to cover her eyes. "The object of the game is to get the closest to the stake."

Applejack settled her hat back. "All right, all right." She then flipped a shoe onto Rainbow's nose. "You got another throw there, pony girl." The pegasus's second throw sailed over the stake and into the grass far ahead.

"Wow, Rainbow. Heh. You couldn't hit a barn door with that kind of a throw."

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow kicked the last yellow shoe to Applejack. "I still have the closest throw, Apple Snack. Just try and beat it."

"Not yet.", Chronicle reminded as he 'set' his last red shoe on his horn, then used his head to hurl it. His shoe landed just past the stake and hit the border of the horseshoes court. "Darn. Your turn."

The blond farmer got the shoe in her teeth, focused for a bit, then blew out her breath and let fly with a nervous face, the shoe's shadow tracing its path toward the goal. Her throw clattered down the stake neatly.

Applejack reared up briefly. "Yee-haa! It's a ringer! That's how we do it down here on the farm."

Rainbow was stunned at this and softly muttered, "I lost."

As for Chronicle, he just shrugged. "Guess we can't win 'em all. I think I would've been less accurate if I used magic to throw."

"Ah, don't feel bad, Rainbow. It's all in good fun.", Applejack said.

"I hate losing."

"Besides, you're a mighty good athlete. I'm just better." The farmpony trotted off chuckling, but Rainbow recovered herself and flew to catch up, Chronicle following.

"All right, Applejack. You think you're the top athlete in all of Ponyville?" The three of them stopped.

"Well, I was gonna say "in all of Equestria," but—" She dusted Rainbow's face with her tail. "—that might be gildin' the lily." She then trotted off.

"And I think I'm the top athlete. So let's prove it."

Applejack leaned back. "Prove what?"

"I challenge you to an Iron Pony competition." Applejack began to think this over. "A series of athletic contests to decide who's the best, once and for all."

"You know what, Rainbow? You're on."

Both spat on a front hoof, slapped them together, and then brought their heads down to stare each other dead in the face. A second later, they both turned to look at the only unicorn around. He noticed this. "What?"

"Say, why don't you join in as well?", asked the pegasus.

"Me? I know I'm quite athletic myself for a unicorn, but I know I still pale in comparison to the two of you. In fact, Rarity throws a better right hook than I do." He reared up for a while and swung a hoof to demonstrate, then got down on fours again.

"Well, I guess we can allow you to use some magic, but no telekinesis or any of those other fancy spells."

"In short, the only spells I'm allowed to use are those that affect my body."

"Yeah.", said Applejack.

"All right. I'm in." He then spit on his hoof, then the three of them did a three-way hoof-bump. "By the way, just what are the events? We're gonna need to do some organizing, and I don't think the eight of us will be enough." By "eight", he meant the three of them, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

"True. Who're you thinking of bringing in?"

"I don't know anything about the Iron Pony competition except that it is an athletic event, so somepony's gonna have to fill me in."

At that, Rainbow went up close and wrapped a foreleg around him. "Allow me to explain…"

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

The next day…

At the Sweet Apple Acres orchards, Twilight Sparkle (with Spike on her back) and Applejack watched Rainbow Dash do squats and stretches to limber up. Chronicle was doing similar exercises right next.

"So you three are doing what now?", Twilight asked.

"An Iron—", Applejack spoke up before the pegasus interrupted her.

"—Iron Pony competition.

"See, we've set up a bunch of events to decide which one of us is—"

"—the most athletic pony ever!"

"Although we gave Chronicle a handicap so that he could keep up with us. Those spells he casts on his body, that's all he's allowed to cast."

"And I'm here to…?", Twilight said as Rainbow stopped stretching.

"Uh…uh…" The polychromatic-haired pony shrugged and turned to Applejack. "…I don't know. Why is she here?"

"To be our judge and keep score."

"Right. Heh. Somepony's gotta record my awesomeness for the history books. " As she resumed stretching, she failed to catch the puzzled look her friends traded.

"Since some of the events required special equipment, I called in a few favors.", Chronicle said as he paused in his stretching.

"What favors?", his charge asked.

"You'll know soon enough."

C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD

Later…

A field has been set up in the manner of a track and field meet, with various areas dedicated to different events and a set of bleachers for spectators. Applejack and Rainbow were making final adjustments to a long zigzagging row of flower-filled barrels. A scoreboard has been set up, with apple-shaped placards giving a score of zero for each competitor, and so were several tents.

"Hello, everypony, and welcome to the first annual Iron Pony competition!", Spike announced, still seated on Twilight's back and holding a twig with one leaf on the end to serve as a microphone. The two of them and Chronicle were watching from the sidelines; no other spectators were on the scene.

"Uh, Spike, who are you talking to?", Twilight asked.

Spike looked around. "Um…them!" He pointed back behind Twilight on this last word, where Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity came up the path right on cue. Followed shortly were Mystic Shield and his First Four (Greatstone, Bullseye, Tricky Books, Chrono Cards), and then Graphite, Mjölna, and her twin sister Tasty Snack, who looked just like the blacksmith, but had a sandwich cutie mark.

Spike then jumped onto Twilight's head, surprising her considerably. "Let the games begin!" Everypony cheered in unison.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—G—MS—G–TB–B–CC—M—TS

**Event 1: Barrel Weave**

Applejack was first on the course as she pawed at the ground a bit.

"Ready?", Twilight called as Applejack crouched. "Set?" Spike procured a stopwatch. "Go!"

Spike start the time as the earth pony rocketed past with enough speed to blow Twilight's mane/tail out straight. She did a serpentine through the barrels, gasping just before she brushed against one so that it wobbled in place. "Dagnabit!" As she reached the end, Spike stopped the watch.

"Time, Spike?", Twilight inquired, the other two competitors standing near her.

"Seventeen seconds!"

Applejack skidded back. "You're kiddin'. That breaks my record from last year's rodeo!"

"But you got a five-second penalty for nudging the barrel."

Applejack sighed, kicking a rock. "Nuts and shoes! Still, that's twenty-two seconds—not too shabby." Rainbow started to sweat while Chronicle kept his cool. "Hey, don't be nervous." She nudged the pegasus in the ribs. "Remember, it's all in good fun." She then nudged the unicorn. "Now get on up there."

Once Chronicle was on the line, his charge cried out. "Ready? Set? Go!"

Spike clicked his stopwatch and the stallion was off, not blowing his charge's mane as he ran. As he cast a spell on his legs, he strafed through the barrels, and eventually made short jumps in between them, not once slipping in his footing. And since his tail was short, any scrapes with the barrels didn't noticeably nudge them as he eventually reached the finish line.

"Time, Spike?", Twilight inquired.

"Twenty point five seconds!"

"Wow, Chronicle! I didn't think you'd be that fast."

"Thanks, Twilight.", said the bodyguard as he walked back. "Still, I only managed to beat Applejack's time because of the penalty." He turned to Rainbow. "Your turn. The multi-hued competitor shortly took her place at the line.

"Ready? Set? Go!"

Again, Spike clicked his stopwatch, and again Twilight nearly got her hair blown off in the wake. Rainbow raced through the barrels, her tail leaving a short contrail behind her, and reached the end without hitting any of them.

"Whoo! That was some fancy hoofwork there, Rainbow.", Applejack cheered as the pegasus flew back, trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks, but I couldn't have been as fast as you."

"What was the time on that, Spike?"

The baby dragon gave a gasp of surprise. "Eighteen seconds!" Rainbow gasped as well.

"Eighteen seconds?", Applejack parroted as she leaned a foreleg on Rainbow's back. "Rainbow, are you sure you're not secretly a rodeo pony?"

Twilight raised one of Rainbow's forelegs, in the manner of a boxing referee lifting the arm of the victor in a bout. Rainbow Dash wins the barrel weave, with Chronicle as runner-up!"

At the scoreboard, Fluttershy replaced the 0 placards next to the pictures of the pegasus and unicorn and replaced it with a 2 and 1 respectively.

Rainbow hovered in the air in victory. "I can't believe I won!" Applejack nudged her down flat shortly.

"Yeah, well, don't you go gettin' used to it."

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—C—TS—S—A—RD—F

**Event 2: Bucking Contest**

In another area, as four extra spectators came (Daisy, Bon Bon, Heartstrings, and Rainbowshine), a carnival "high striker" had been set up—the old game in which one would hit a lever with a mallet, trying to drive a weight up a vertical scale to hit a bell at the top. This particular rig was modified in one way: instead of a lever, a bulls-eye target was mounted at ground level, with the weight resting on its top edge.

Chronicle was first up as he stood in front of it. Focusing a spell of strength on his hind legs, he then reared up, turned around, and hit the target, sending the weight up and hitting the bell.

There were cheers from the spectators as flowers and horseshoes were tossed up.

"That's quite powerful for a unicorn.", Greatstone remarked.

Rainbow Dash was next, and while she was able to ring the bell, the weight hit it harder and it rang louder. Stronger cheers came from the spectators as she floated up to the top of the scale with a smile, with flowers and horseshoes tossed up after her. Chronicle gave a sigh of defeat as Applejack, meanwhile, rested on her haunches under an apple tree, hat tipped forward over her eyes and a stalk of wheat in her mouth. Rainbow flew over to her, and she flipped the hat back for a clear view of the smug pegasus.

"Mighty respectable—", Applejack said before spitting out the stalk, and walking past. "—but let me show you how it's really done."

She took her position, glanced casually up the scale, and proceeded to deliver a one-legged buck that smashed the target to splinters. The weight not only hit the bell, but broke it loose and launched it out of sight. As the crowd cheered and waved pennants, Applejack walked back to the confounded Rainbow, who collapsed onto her haunches by the tree.

"Years of applebuckin'." A casual hit from one rear leg knocked several apples loose so that they hit Rainbow's head in a rhythm known as "Shave and a Haircut."

Meanwhile, Fluttershy updated the scoreboard and spread her forelegs wide with a grin to show off the standings. The score was, in order of Applejack-Chronicle-Rainbow Dash, now 2-1-3.

C—A—RD—F—G—C—A—RD—F—G—C—A—RD—F—G

**Event 3: Bronco Buck**

At the bleachers, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh have joined the spectators and have taken seats to watch the proceedings as they did a three-pony wave.

"Wahoo."

"Woo-hoo!"

"Ee-yup."

Spike now wore a ten-gallon hat and was sweating buckets atop Applejack's back. "Why me?", he asked.

"Go!", Twilight yelled.

At once, the orange-tan pony launched into her best bucking-bronco impersonation, trying to flip Spike away; he quickly lost his hat and yelled time after time while keeping a death grip on her tail. One final heave launched him into a haystack that stood in the corner of this fenced-off corral. He stuck his head up and spit out some hay.

"Ouch." The rest of the stack shook apart, revealing Rainbow inside; he has landed on her back.

"Ready for another pony ride?", the pegasus asked as she got moving.

"No!"

"Go!", Twilight called.

Rainbow's strategy was to start jackhammering in place, bouncing the little dragon up and down so quickly that he was soon flung over the field. But before he was out of sight, as the pegasus flew up to enjoy her victory, Chronicle 'caught' the baby dragon in his telekinetic grip and 'placed' him on his back.

"My turn.", the stallion called.

"Go!", his charge cried out.

Immediately, Chronicle did a bucking bronco like Applejack, then—noticing that Spike was holding on to his mane and not his rump like he did on the girls—immediately pulled back for a split-second, bumping his head into Spike's, making the dragon lose focus. Then, Chronicle started doing the bronco in circles, getting Spike off of his back in four seconds flat and sending him flying. (2)

"Rainbow Dash wins the bronco buck, with Chronicle as runner-up!", Twilight announced.

At the scoreboard, Fluttershy updated the score to 2-2-5. A loud thud came nearby and she put her front hooves to her mouth in surprise; Spike had hit the board and was dangling over the top edge.

"And I lose.", he said woozily.

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—C—TS—S—A—RD—F

**Event 4: Lasso Contest**

Back at the corral, its bleachers have begun to fill with cheering fans. The three players stood in it and were each twirling a lasso in their teeth, with Spike standing between them and wearing a horned helmet.

Rainbow was having considerable trouble getting her rope to behave and so was Chronicle, though less so, even without magic to help him. Spike, meanwhile, just stood there with a sullen "why me?" expression. Applejack handled the lasso with her usual dexterity, working it back and forth before casting it ahead.

Chronicle did the same thing and both of them caught Spike. However, while he caught the horns, Applejack snagged all four of Spike's limbs to hogtie him and dragged him over to herself with a yell. The helmet fell off and Chronicle was left with it. Roses are thrown onto the field in honor of Applejack's coup.

"How do I get roped into these things?", Spike wondered.

Meanwhile, Rainbow had managed to snag herself to a tree, dangling upside down from one branch, having tangled the rope around both it and herself. "Does this count?"

Several birds perched atop the scoreboard tweeted and shook their heads in disagreement, and Fluttershy updated the scoreboard to 4-3-5.

C—S—A—RD—F—C—S—A—RD—F—C—S—A—RD—F

**Event 5: Ball Bouncing Contest**

Back at the field, Applejack was doing her best to bounce a ball off her head. Chronicle was having a hard time like she was, though he remained focused as he bounced his ball on the helmet on his head. The helmet was to keep the ball from being punctured by his horn.

After a couple of contortions, the earth pony lost her balance and went face first in the grass, the ball sailing away only to bounce atop one of Rainbow's upraised rear hooves. It balanced there perfectly as she kept her own ball going off her own head. As the unicorn slipped in his step a second later, more cheers and roses came for Rainbow, this time from some pegasi watching from the clouds overhead.

Fluttershy caught one flower in her teeth as updated the score to 4-4-7.

C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F

**Event 6: Hay Bale Toss**

The three competitors now stood at one end of a strip marked off for distance, surrounded by a still-growing crowd on the ground and in air. Each had a hay bale before her/him.

Rainbow got her teeth around the ropes binding hers and heaved. She then flew to the far end of the run just in time to see the bale land exactly on that line. When Chronicle hurled his and it fell short of hers, she blew a raspberry, which was cut off when Applejack's bale landed neatly on top of her, smashing her flat—and outdoing her throw to boot. The cheering spectators carried Applejack past the scoreboard, where Fluttershy's rabbit Angel popped up behind her head to mark the point. The score was now 6-4-8.

C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F

**Event 7: Hoof Wrestling**

Applejack and Rainbow took the first match, which the latter quickly won, causing Applejack to lose her balance, drop to the ground, and lose her hat.

Chronicle took on the pegasus next and, as much as he bolstered his foreleg power, was overwhelmed and he spun from the force before tumbling to the ground.

He took on Applejack for the position of runner-up, but the farmpony proved stronger and dominated him.

As a result, the score became 7-4-10.

C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F

**Event 8: Football Kick**

The trio stood on a hill, each with a football in front of her/him. Rainbow kicked her ball—rainbow-striped, naturally—with a hind leg, facing straight ahead. Applejack and Chronicle, on the other hoof, bucked theirs with both hind legs.

In the sky, several pegasi watched Rainbow's ball sail past beneath them, and Chronicle's below that, but ducked to avoid being hit as Applejack's rocketed over their heads, then gasped as they turned to the scoreboard, where Fluttershy had the 11 placard in hoof to post up.

Upon seeing the football coming, she gasped and raised it over her head for protection. The brown pigskin sailed down and hits it, knocking it neatly into place on Rainbow's score. She promptly changed Applejack's to a 9. Scoring zero, Chronicle's score remained the same.

C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F—C—A—RD—F

**Event 9: Jousting **(3) (4)**  
**

For this particular event, the contestants were clad in plain iron barding forged by Mjölna, and had wooden dummies in the form of Spike created by Mystic Shield's First Four on their backs, which wielded lances on loan from Graphite. The baby dragon was not amused as he watched beside Twilight.

As Chronicle got ready to play, the weapons dealer and blacksmith went over to him.

"Remember your payment.", Mjölna reminded.

"My weapons are bound to be damaged, so you're paying for that.", said Graphite.

"Okay, okay, I get it.", sighed Chronicle as he and Rainbow Dash went to opposite ends, standing to their right of the long, low fence between them.

"Go!", Twilight gave the signal. As one, the competitors charged towards each other, their "mounters"'s lances aimed for each others' "mounters". Their lances made contact. As the two passed each other by and slowed down, it was revealed that Chronicle's "mounter" was intact though it began to lose its grip on its lance while Rainbow's was disarmed and its right arm was dangling. Chronicle won this round and his charge announced it.

He took part in the next round as well, this time pitting himself against Applejack. The unicorn's "mounter" was given a quick fix by Greatstone (which basically consisted of compacting soil on the 'injury') before he was ready. On Twilight's signal, both he and the farmpony charged and clashed. The end result was that Chronicle's "mounter" lost its lower arm and lance while Applejack's, in spite of keeping hold of its weapon, lost its head, which flew into Spike's arms. Naturally, he was spooked and he shrieked.

The final round was between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. New "mounters" were brought for them and their lances were re-used. The end result: Rainbow Dash's "mounter" was disarmed (again) and Applejack's was on the verge of losing its head.

"Chronicle wins the jousting competition, with Rainbow Dash as runner up!", Twilight announced.

"YES!", the bodyguard whooped as he jumped and did a back flip, exuberant that he finally won an event. And the score was updated to 9-6-12.

C—TS—S—A—RD—G—G–M—C—TS—S—A—RD—G—G–M

**Event 10: Horseshoes**

Chronicle let the feeling of nostalgia pass him by as he, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are about to play the game that spurred this event in the first place.

Applejack tossed her shoe and it landed on the stake like before. Chronicle was next as he hurled it via his horn (not magic) and it landed on the stake as well. Rainbow followed right after, but her shoe did not make it at the stake, overshooting instead.

A tiebreaker was done since there can't be two equal winners in an event. Instead of going one at a time, the two tossed their shoes together, although it wasn't synchronous given their different methods of throwing. The earth pony's shoe left her mouth before the unicorn's left his horn. The two projectiles flew in different arcs, Applejack's going in a higher one. Chronicle's reached it first, slamming into the stake and spinning before resting on the ground. Applejack's reached the stake, but it made contact with the tip and it flipped, landing on the other side and not around it. This marked Chronicle as the winner with Applejack as runner up.

The score became 10-8-12.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 11: Push-ups**

Twig microphone in hand, Spike continued to announce while standing on Twilight's back, who was reading a scroll. "Fillies and gentle-colts! At the halfway point, here's our competitors standings. Applejack stands at ten points, Chronicle has eight, and Rainbow Dash leads with twelve!" He then added with a whisper, "If it were just the girls, they would be tied at five and five."

Twilight dismissed the scroll to "magicspace", a bit exasperated. "Who are you talking to?"

"Them!" Spike gestured…at dozens of ponies having now congregated to watch the showdown and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. For some reason, she hadn't acknowledged their presence until he pointed it out.

Shortly after, the eleventh event began, with the three competitors doing push-ups, and Twilight keeping count. For all of his endurance, Chronicle could not compare to the farmpony and weather manager and fell over at the count of sixty-three. For now, all he could do was rest. To his left, he could see Lemon Hearts stacked on top of Berry Punch and Golden Harvest. On his right, he could see Cherry Berry, Twinkle, and Shoeshine.

"Ninety-five…ninety-six…", his charge was counting, watching their straining, sweating faces. "…ninety-seven…ninety-eight…ninety-nine…" Applejack finally falls, unable to rise again, but Rainbow came back up—with the help of her wings. "…a hundred!"

"Yes!", the pegasus whooped as she raised her forelegs in victory, her front end staying clear of the ground. Her opponent did not notice this as she went flat in the grass.

"Be a good sport, Applejack.", the farmpony reminded herself. The score became 11-8-14.

C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD

**Event 12: Shocking Duel**

The next event consisted of the three ponies sticking their front hooves on a metallic panel connected to a generator with a counter. Prior to the competition, Chronicle asked if Mystic's First Four could create the device needed for the event. Thankfully, they obtained Twilight's permission to use the laboratory in the basement.

Mystic Shield kept an eye on the counter, which measured the voltage the panel had and was passing into the three competitors. He also steadily increased the voltage, but not too quickly or he might risk eliciting injuries. Basically, the three to keep their hooves on the panel for as long as they can. The winner would be the last one still standing.

As the voltage kept steadily rising, so did the tension. It was getting harder and harder to stay on the panel, and then Chronicle noticed that Rainbow wasn't as affected as he and Applejack were. Then he realized a flaw in this challenge; the average pegasus pony had higher resistance to cold and electrocution than unicorns and earth ponies. And Rainbow was a weather manager and thus would have had a lot of exposure to lightning. She has the advantage here. Still, that didn't mean he was gonna fold. And Applejack wasn't about to either.

Half a minute later and two ponies jerked their front hooves away, a half second apart from each other. Another followed suit three seconds later. That one was Rainbow Dash.

"I can't believe this sort of event was along the ones we had to go through.", Applejack complained. "Had I remembered what exactly Rainbow could endure, I would've had another event selected."

"I'm with you there.", concurred Chronicle.

"Rainbow Dash wins the shocking duel, with Chronicle as the runner-up by half a second!", Mystic announced.

Fluttershy updated the scoreboard accordingly, which now read 11-9-16.

C—A—RD—F—MS—C—A—RD—F—MS—C—A—RD—F—MS

**Event 13: Cornhole **(5)**  
**

The next event was the cornhole, also known as bean bag toss, corn toss, baggo, or bags. It's a lawn game in which players take turns throwing corn hole bags at a raised platform with a hole in the far end.

Three platforms lay side by side, measured two-by-four feet, with a 6-inch hole centered 9 inches from the top. Each platform was angled, where the top was 12 inches higher than the bottom.

Twenty-seven inches from the platforms were pitcher boxes where the "corn bags" were placed, colored yellow, red, and blue respectively. Applejack, Chronicle, and Rainbow Dash stood just outside their respective platforms.

"A corn bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point.", Twilight explained as the three players stood in line just outside the pitcher's box, where four "corn bags" lay, weighing 9 ounces. "You have twenty seconds to score. The timer begins once you step into the box. Once twenty seconds are up or everypony has hurled their bags, we'll start calculating. Then we'll proceed to the next inning. We will continue having innings until a player reaches 21, then the other two will continue for position of runner-up. If two players reach 21, they will have a tiebreaker." She didn't say the following, but it was in the rules, _And in the event that all three reach 21, one final inning will be done and whoever scores the most wins. If there's a tie from there, we'll break that tie to reach a conclusive score._

The three competitors entered their boxes, then picked up a corn bag and started tossing. While the mares faced front, Chronicle swung sideways. And he seemed to be doing a better job, scoring one in the hole and three on the board, making a total of six points. Rainbow only managed to land three on the board, scoring one point for each. Applejack got one lucky hit on the hole and one on the board, scoring four.

At the next inning, the earth pony and pegasus were faring better, Rainbow nailing two cornholes (a bag in the hole) and one ace (a bag on the board) but overshooting the last, and Applejack scored the same hits as Chronicle; one cornhole and three aces. As for the unicorn himself, He missed with the first bag, but scored two aces before getting a cornhole in the last. And thus the cornholes score became 10-11-10.

In the third inning, Applejack got one cornhole, one ace, and one miss before running out of time for the fourth, scoring five points. Chronicle, getting a tad hasty, only managed to score four aces, his first two corn bags getting in the way of his chances for a shot in the hole. Rainbow meanwhile overshot her first, undershot her second, nailed a cornhole with the third, then ran out of time for the fourth, the score becoming 14-15-13.

Come the fourth inning, the three started getting their act together and Chronicle reversed his facing, the platform now to his right instead of his left. Applejack scored two aces, missed the third, then scored a cornhole with the last. Chronicle scored a cornhole with the first, landed an ace with the second, just overshot with the third, and—thanks to it bumping into the second shot—landed another cornhole, scoring seven points. Rainbow's first two throws were unremarkable aces, but when she reared up and flapped her wings to balance herself, she managed to score two cornholes, earning eight points total and thus making the final tally 19-22-21.

After analyzing the score, Twilight could see that while two players indeed reached 21 (well, one exceeding), one was clearly higher, and so… "Chronicle wins the cornhole, with Rainbow Dash as runner-up." And so the Iron Pony competition scoreboard was updated to 11-11-17.

C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD

**Event 14: Long Jump**

Applejack was in full gallop, leaving her competitors behind as she proceeded to go first. Reaching the chalk line ahead, she launched herself in the air and came down for a four-point landing in a sand pit. She then threw a challenging glance over her shoulder and leaped aside, leaving four hoofprints in the sand to mark her distance.

After a moment's hesitation, Rainbow charged toward the line and jumped—but upon seeing that she would fall short, she flapped furiously and stopped with inches to spare above the sand. A little more wing action let her touch down ahead of Applejack's mark, prompting an angry glare.

Chronicle soon followed, using a spell to increase his running speed, and soon jumped upon reaching the line. However, he had forgotten that he had a spell to increase his jumping power and so even with the distance he covered, he fell short of Applejack's. He grunted at himself for this mistake of his.

And so the score became 12-11-19.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 15: Hurdles**

The event was pretty basic; reach the end of the finish line while jumping the hurdles. However, it soon became more and more obvious that Rainbow Dash was getting the upper hoof. Using her wings, she glided over at least two hurdles at a time while Chronicle and Applejack had to leap over each and every one of them. Even with a 'jump enhancement' spell, the unicorn was still "toe-to-toe" with the earth pony.

Once the pegasus cleared the race a few seconds ahead of them, the two left behind quickened in their pace…and it cost Applejack a time penalty as her hind legs bumped the last hurdle as she beat Chronicle by a split second. The score became 12-12-21.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 16: Ladder Toss **(6)**  
**

They were back at where the cornhole event was conducted, except the platform was replaced with short three-rung ladders propped straight and the four "corn bags" with three bolas, which were two balls connected by a string. The strings were colored in the same scheme as the corn bags and horseshoes.

Like before, Twilight explained the rules as the players stood in line just outside the pitcher's box. "A bola on the bottom rung is worth 1 point, the middle 2, and the top 3. Also, if you manage get a bola on each of the rungs, that's an automatic 10 points. There is no time limit. The next round begins once everypony has tossed their bolas. Otherwise, scoring goes the same way as in the cornhole."

The three competitors entered their boxes, then picked up a bola and took their time tossing. Like last time, Chronicle swung his projectile sideways. He scored a one-two-two. Rainbow managed to score a one-zero-three, missing with the second bola. Applejack almost got a bola on each rung but missed the top one, getting a one-two-zero.

In the next round, Chronicle got a three-three-zero, Applejack scored a one-two-two, and Rainbow got a three-three-two. The total score was now 8-11-12.

The third round displayed a three twos in a row for the earth pony, a one-two-one for the unicorn, and a zero-zero-three for the pegasus, making the ladder toss score 14-15-15.

The fourth round was when the three started getting their act together and Chronicle once more reversed his facing like before. Applejack landed a bola on the top and middle rungs, but her third was overshot and landed on the middle as well, making her final score 22. Rainbow once more reared up and flapped her wings to balance herself when she tossed hers, landing her three bolas on the top rung, making her final score 24. As for Chronicle, his first bola landed on the bottom, his second landed on the top, and he perspired with pressure as he finally tossed the third. He nearly thought it would sail in between the top two rungs, but to his luck it found its way into the middle, scoring him 10 points and bringing his final score to 25. He got up and raised his forelegs in triumph with a wide grin.

After analyzing the score, Twilight could see that all three players exceeded 21, but their scores gave a clear difference. "Chronicle wins the ladder toss, with Rainbow Dash as runner-up." And so the Iron Pony competition scoreboard was updated to 12-14-22.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 17: Chick Wrangling**

At three parallel muddy trenches, three squawking chickens settled down on one end . They settle down, having been placed one end as they waited for their chicks, four each who were nestled on the three competitor's backs on the opposite end. At the ring of the bell, the three trotted into the mess.

The mud began to splatter all over Applejack, annoying the chicks so much that they quickly left her back and—she only realized this after reaching the other end—went over to Rainbow's, who had spread her wings so that her now eight chicks can perch on them and stay clean during the ride. As for Chronicle, he had cast his water-walking spell and discovered that it worked on mud as well, although he still tread lightly.

His cautiousness resulted him in reaching the end last, but since Applejack failed to deliver her chicks (this not sitting well with her), he scored second place and the Iron Pony competition scoreboard was updated to 12-15-24.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 18: Wire Loop Game**

Thanks to another contraption Mystic's First Four had created, the next event consisted of the three ponies holding a stick with a loop out of iron in their teeth. They were supposed to pass that loop through a wire that was rigged with a buzzer that would sound if both metals touched. The wire had been bent into the form of a tidal wave (not that anypony has been to or even seen the sea). At the point where the wire bent high, there was a stepping platform so as not to inconvenience the competitors, although it certainly wasn't a problem for one of them.

Chronicle was the first to take on the course and he started moving. He wasn't accustomed to holding something in his teeth for long periods of time, let alone rotating it. He went through the "incline" easily, but took up a number of precious seconds right after reaching the "crest" of the "wave" as he struggled to flip the loop around while standing on the platform. Once he passed it however, it became a piece of cake to reach the end.

Applejack was next and she managed to scale the "incline" quite easily. However, as she reached the "crest" and was about to turn the loop around, a little wind worked with gravity to blow her stetson down and cover her eyes. As she tried to get it back up, her loop touched the wire and the buzzer sounded.

Rainbow followed and it became quite easy for her. She followed the loop through the wire at a steady pace, ignoring the platform and using her wings to keep level with it, and almost reached the end with less time than Chronicle when she got a bit too hasty and buzzed the wire right after going past the part of the "wave" that would crash upon reaching the "shore".

As a result, Chronicle won the wire loop game, with Rainbow Dash as runner-up, bringing the score to 12-17-25.

C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD—C—A—RD

**Event 19: Sack Race**

Chronicle had no idea how a sack race was done without hands to hold it up, but figured out the means soon enough. Each pony was tied up in a large sack up to their necks. At the neck of the sack was a rope looped to tie it up and its end was put in the competitors' mouths so as to keep the sack from falling off their bodies.

Once the three were positioned on the same starting line as where they did the hurdles event (the hurdles removed, of course), Twilight called, "Go!" as Spike waved a checkered flag. Immediately, the three got hopping.

It was a difficult course the the unicorn was struggling just to keep himself balanced, eventually falling behind the earth pony and pegasus, the latter making greater bounds. And even a non-astute observer could see wings flapping inside the sack, somehow helping her reach first place, Applejack following in second.

The score became 13-17-27.

C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD

**Event 20: Tug-o-War**

The final event had to have some sort of compromise as well as some clever thinking. There were three competitors and doing three matches not only didn't seem fair, they day was already coming to an end.

So what was done was that—with some clever knots and a powerful adhesive concocted by Tricky Books,—the fight somehow became three-way, with the rope stretched above a circular mud pit. Its ends were held by the three competitors with their teeth, and at the center keeping the whole thing tied together along with knots and adhesive was a red flag.

"All right, you three.", said Twilight as she stood in the area in between Applejack and Rainbow Dash and opposite Chronicle. "This is the final event." Spike, who was on her back, climbed up on top of her head. "Give it all you've got."

Spike waved a checkered flag to start them off. All three ponies dug in their heels, but Rainbow found herself being dragged toward the mud. Chronicle had managed to dig his hooves deeper, but now he can't pull his way to victory. "Looks like the workhorse might come out ahead in this one!", the dragon said.

Applejack then hauled on the rope, unable to pull Chronicle in yet, but pulling Rainbow so far that her hooves grazed the edge of the pit and she toppled forward. Only the latter's wings kept her from taking a mud bath, and she quickly flew upward to lift her two competitors off the ground. Taking gravity into account, the earth pony and unicorn collided with one another, but neither jerked their mouths open which would have given them a drop to the pit.

_Now this is clearly blatant._, Chronicle thought as he did everything he could to keep his grip steady.

"That's not fair!", Applejack complained. "You can't use your wings to help you win!"

Rainbow put a hoof to her ear, obviously feigning deafness from what the unicorn could see. "Huh?"

"You're cheatin'!"

"I can't understand you with that rope in your mouth!"

Stupidly, Applejack let go and hung in the air. "I said—" She then noticed a second later. "—uh-oh."

Just as gravity returned from its "coffee break" at this point, she quickly grabbed Chronicle's tail by the teeth. This was extremely painful for him and he did what he did next out of reflex apart from opening his mouth and crying out in pain, which he fought the urge to; he bucked her in the face and she dropped squarely into the mud.

_This is crazy._, the unicorn thought as he got an idea. Keeping his grip strong, he began to swing. This constant change in force caused strain for Rainbow as she tried to keep herself aloft. Chronicle took her movements into account and each swing got stronger. Applejack stayed in the pit meanwhile, refusing offers to get her out.

"Come on. Just give up already." the pegasus taunted. "I already win."

"That don't mean I'm makin' this easy for you.", retorted the unicorn as he continued swinging. Eventually, he swung so strong that his altitude was above Rainbow's and gravity, centripetal force, and his momentum soon brought him straight to her.

Seemingly disappointingly, he missed, landing on the ground—and he quickly pulled. The sudden lack of pulling and its just-as-quick return jerked Rainbow down to the mud. "Oww.", the pegasus grumbled as the crowd cheered wildly at this turnabout.

"You know, I would've lost had you not started flying.", Chronicle commented. "A test of pure strength, thanks to you, now needed some more strategy. But victory's still yours."

Immediately putting her close loss behind her, Rainbow took off into the air and the crowd cheered louder. At the scoreboard, Fluttershy stared in concern as the victor went and updated the score herself. "Woo-hoo!" The final score was 13-19-28. "I win by a landslide!" She flew to Applejack. "Or mudslide, in your case." The besmirched competitor seethed in the pit as Rainbow flew up with a laugh and Parasol and Derpy Hooves stretched out a rainbow-striped banner behind her. "I am the Iron Pony!"

Finally accepting help, Applejack got herself clean and out of the pit. "Only 'cause you cheated!", she then said.

"What?!", Rainbow gasped as she flew down to face off.

"You used your wing power to help you win over half those contests!"

"Sounds like sour apples to me."

"Are you sayin' you didn't use your wings?"

"Well…no…but you never said I **couldn't** use my wings."

"I didn't think I needed to tell you to play fair!"

"I still would've won even without my wings."

"I'm tempted to agree.", Chronicle said as he went in. "But given a number of the events can be won easier with flight, I'm doubtful you could."

"Ha!" Applejack then turned to the pegasus. "Prove it!"

"Gladly! How?"

"Tomorrow's the annual Runnin' of the Leaves. I challenge you to race me in it."

"Heh. Easy, schmeasy."

"Hold on!" The pegasus was yanked down by her tail and the earth pony planted her hooves on it to keep Rainbow from flying off again. "There is one condition. The point is to **run**, so no wings allowed!"

"No wings?" She then bucked, flipping Applejack away. "No problem!"

The earth pony then turned to Chronicle. "And no teleportin' either."

"That would defeat the purpose of the running. But just to make sure, I shall Pinkie Swear.", the unicorn said as he did the necessary motions, but without the oath. Once he was done with the last part, he and his friends each spat on a front hoof and touched them together, leaning in close to stare each other down. The mood broke when Rainbow blew a raspberry. She and Applejack both chuckled for a moment, then resumed their glowering.

_I can feel the tension between them. So thick you can cut it with a knife._

C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - From left to right are the final scores from the Iron Pony competition etched in square wooden panels on a wooden wall. The 13 is smashed through by a hind leg buck from Applejack. The 19 is blasted through by Chronicle as the earth pony jumps through the hole she made. Then as he jumps through as well, the 28 is busted as Rainbow Dash flies through, then lands with the others. She and Applejack then turn to each other and begin to glare at each other across Chronicle, who begins to grin nervously as the show's logo appears in the hole he made.

C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD—C—TS—S—A—RD

The next day…

Twilight Sparkle, with Spike on her back, walked away from the Golden Oaks Library, but stopped to look at a passing butterfly. Chronicle had already gone ahead, waking up early for once. He was amazed that it was already autumn; guess time flies when you're having fun or seasons aren't as regular as he was used to.

"Twilight, hurry up! We're gonna be late for the race!", Spike complained.

"Why are you so excited about the race?" She then started off again. "It's only for ponies."

"But I'm hoping I can be the announcer again." He pulled out his twig. "Just listen. Fillies and gentle-colts…"

"…welcome to the annual Running of the Leaves!", another voice came as if through a megaphone in sync with him. Both were taken aback at the sound as they finally arrived at the race's starting line, where quite a few ponies have already gathered in the park land outside the town proper.

Spike had lost steam as he looked up and saw Pinkie Pie riding in a hot air balloon and speaking into a megaphone mounted at the basket's edge.

"This is Pinkie Pie, your official puh-eye-in-the-sky announcer.", the party pony continued, marking a play on her own name. As she floated higher, Spike angrily threw his twig away.

"Sorry, Spike.", said Twilight as the balloon floats over a stretch of forest.. "I guess that job's already taken."

"As everypony knows, the Running's a very important tradition, for without it, the autumn leaves of Equestria would never fall. So get ready, ponies." She then returned to the starting line. "The Running of the Leaves will begin in five minutes!"

Several ponies moved into position, stretching and limbering, each of them having a number pasted over their cutie mark. As Chronicle did some deep breathing exercises, he observed the competitors. Aside from nearly every earth pony he was familiar with—though Big Macintosh had stayed behind to tend to the farm—he saw a couple of pegasi as well and even a few unicorns, like Lemon Hearts, Amethyst Star, Greatstone, and…Mystic Shield?

Prior to the race, so as to conserve his energy, he had summoned two magical clones, one to join Pinkie Pie shortly and the other coming from the audience to talk to him.

Mystic, wearing number 21, noticed him come over. "Chronicle.", he greeted. "You racing?"

"Yeah." He the pointed to the real him, who was wearing a 31. "You too?"

"Uh-huh. Believe it or not, I am quite good at running."

"Really?"

"I've had to run from some angry guard dogs chasing a burglar back home. They chased me because I also ran, but for different reasons. I don't wanna talk about what happened after that. Since then, I've built up on my running to increase my stamina. That, and because being able to run away fast is good for a last resort or when you're obviously out of your league."

"Ah. Say, why don't you add running to the lesson plan?"

Mystic seemed to light up like he hadn't thought of it yet. "That's a great idea. Thanks!"

"Pardon me!", a voice came. The two unicorn stallions turned to see Rainbow Dash advanced through the crowd as number 11, and Derpy Hooves (number 13) and Dizzy Twister (number 1). "Excuse me! Make way for the Iron Pony!" She went over to Applejack, whose number was 8.

"The Iron **Phony**, you mean.", retorted the farmpony.

"So, Applejack, you ready to win second place?"

"I'm ready to run a **good clean** race."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You are not allowed to use your wings!"

Rainbow flapped a bit. "I could win this race with both wings tied behind my back."

The Chronicle clone beside Mystic groaned at this upon seeing a devious idea occur to the earth pony, confusing the cynophobic stallion. A few minutes later, both of them and the real Chronicle groaned again upon seeing what she thought of; ropes were wrapped around Rainbow's midsection, pinning her wings to her flanks, and she groaned as they were tightened.

The pegasus glared over her shoulder at Applejack, who put the finishing touches on the job and smiled. "Trussed up like a turkey…well, a turkey who can't fly, that is."

Rainbow snarked. "Very funny."

"Hold on.", said Chronicle as he walked over to them. "Trussed up like a turkey? Whatever do you do to them?" _Certainly not for Thanksgiving, given you're vegetarians._

"Tell you later.", Applejack said before continuing her conversation with the pegasus. "'Least now we know we're racin' fair and square."

As the "Call to the Post" bugle call sounded off, the real Chronicle observed some of the other racers and identified them. Golden Harvest had a 00, Bon Bon a 10, Berry Punch an 88, and Shoeshine with an 81. He also saw Heartstrings, who had an 18, as well as what seemed to be specialized runner's horseshoes clamped on her hind legs. From a human standpoint, they looked like sneakers.

As he walked over to the mint green unicorn, Pinkie Pie's voice sounded over the megaphone. "Racers, please take your positions!"

Meanwhile, his other clone, accompanied by Spike, hurried past and spotted her.

"Um…Pinkie Pie…", the baby dragon called.

She noticed and spoke off the megaphone. "Hey, guys! What's up?...Oh, wait. It's me. I'm up!" She gave off a laugh.

"Uh, yeah, uh…I know you're doing the announcing today and stuff, and…I'm sure you're gonna do a great job and all, but…I was just wondering…"

"What?

"Uh…forget it."

Pinkie however seemed to get what he was thinking. "Spike! Would you like to be my co-reporter? We could comment on the action together."

Spike brightened at this offer. "We could?" A rope was dropped for him.

"Climb on up!"

As he did. As for the clone, he teleported to the balloon, also conjuring a barrier around himself so any roughhousing on him won't dissipate him.

Back at the line, the Chronicle who'll be racing—after noting that his charge had joined the race as well with a 42 on her flank—managed to catch Heartstrings's attention. "Lyra."

The unicorn mare turned to face him. "Hi, Chronicle."

"May I ask what are those on your hind hooves?"

"Oh these?" Lyra raised one for him to see. "I've had this…strange interest since I was a filly. I plan to be the first pony in the history of Equestria to run this race bipedally."

The blue stallion stared for a second before replying. "Oh. I see."

This seemed to surprise Lyra. "That's it? No incredulous stare? No laughing at me?"

"Why should I?"

"Because it's not normal for a pony to go on twos."

"Personally, I see no problem with that. Just don't overdo it, okay?"

"I know."

"Okay. …So, how's your stay with Bon Bon? She treating you well?"

"Oh, she is. Definitely." She gave a sleazy smile at the end of this, giving some inappropriate implications.

"Do you mean it both ways?"

"That's up to you to figure out. Hee-hee."

"Fine."

"There's something else. Bon Bon is getting an apprentice."

"For her candy-making business of course, right?"

"Uh-huh. An earth pony like herself. She's such a sweet filly. And that lisp of hers sounds so cute!" Lyra ended this by getting up on her hind legs and pushing her forelegs to her face so that it was squished up like Rainbow Dash's during that "Applejack Appreciation party".

Chronicle had an idea on who this apprentice was. "Does she wear glasses and have frizzy hair?"

"Why, yes!"

"And is her name Twist?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't asked either of them." Just then, Bon Bon came over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, completely surprising her.

"Good luck, sweetheart," the earth pony said, winking at her and making Lyra smile, also ignoring the fact that Chronicle had witnessed this sweet event.

Their conversation was prematurely ended by Pinkie Pie, who announced through the megaphone, "All right, ponies! Are you ready?"

Spike popped up alongside and spoke into the sound amplifying device. "Get set!"

A few of the racers dropped into a crouch, among them the three competitors of yesterday's Iron Pony competition, and Lyra. A hand signal from the dragon set off a bell to start the event.

"And they're off!" Quickly, they all started running at varying paces. Having enhanced his legs prior to the race, Chronicle quickly reached the front of the group, although he managed to glance Lyra slowly rearing up to her hind legs, earning stares from many other racers and a cheer from Bon Bon. He also dismissed his clone from the audience.

Autumn leaves fluttered down from the trees as they all thundered past them. The balloon floated along to keep pace. "Welcome to the official coverage of the Running of the Leaves." Spike was given an old-style microphone to boost his own voice, which weren't connected (wirelessly or no) to any speakers the clone with them could see. "You know, Spike, despite its name, the leaves don't do any of the actual running." Spike was a bit puzzled at this. "No. That's left to my little ponies."

"Why...yes, Pinkie. It's the running of the ponies that causes the leaves to fall.", he replied as the group sprinted past a stand of trees, the leaves falling in a dense shower to leave the branches entirely bare.

"Ugh! Those lazy, lazy leaves."

"Not everything should be taken at face value.", said the clone. "Just because something is named something doesn't mean it literally is."

C—TS—LH—S—GH—BB—A—RD—DH—DT—S—MS—G–BP

A short while later…

As Chronicle caught up with the front, he saw (and expected) Applejack and Rainbow leading the pack, with him following right behind.

As the balloon floated along the route, Pinkie continued commentating. "But this year, the run is about more than the weather. It's about the race to the finish and the two runners who want to win it. Applejack and Rainbow Dash."

"You know, Pinkie, these two ponies have a bit of a grudge match they're trying to settle, trying to prove who's the most athletic.", commented Spike.

"Yes, and "grudge" rhymes with "fudge.""

"Yes, it…does." Spike then realized what he just said. "What?"

"And I like fudge. But if I eat too much fudge, I get a pudge and then I can't budge."

"So…no fudge?"

"Aw, no thanks. I had a big breakfast."

"Let's not get off topic here.", advised the Chronicle clone. "You're gonna distract the racers."

"All right. Let's check in with our two competitive ponies…Applejack and Rainbow Dash! Having come fast out of the gate, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are evenly matched, running neck and neck, and with fellow Iron Pony competitor Chronicle right behind them. But what's this? Applejack is making a move! She's now ahead by a nose! But Rainbow Dash won't let Applejack have it and takes the lead! She's ahead by a half a nose! Or maybe three-quarters of a nose!" Spike had let his mic hang over the side in frustration. "No! About sixty-three-point-seven percent of a nose!" Pinkie gave a sheepish grin to her fellow passengers. "Roughly speaking."

"Aha-aha-aha. Guesswork, or that's actually true?" Pinkie was about to answer when he cut her off. "No. Don't tell me. For all I know, you may actually be right."

The ditzy announcer got back to announcing. "Applejack sees this move and punches forth with her strong workhorse legs, leaping ahead by three hundred fifty noses!"

Below, Applejack commented as she looked over her shoulder. "Not so easy without wings, is it?"

This question was obviously pinned at Rainbow, who eyes her own roped-down pinions. "Come on, Rainbow. Show 'em a little dash!", she said to herself before galloping on.

Back on the balloon, Spike laughed a bit. "Hold your horses, Pinkie! Rainbow Dash is catching up to front-runner Applejack!"

"What an upset! I thought Applejack had this in the bag!"

"It's too early in the race to tell.", said the Chronicle clone.

Below, the real him was still behind, but catching up to the two fierce competitors.

"You didn't think I was gonna let you off that easy, did you?", he heard Rainbow say.

The taunt distracted Applejack's attention long enough for her to not see a rock in the path. She tripped… "Whoa!" …and went face first in the dirt.

She lifted her head in time to see Chronicle land in front of her after a jump and for all the other ponies to speed past her.

_Whoa._, gasped the "31" marked racer. _Better watch my step._ He then looked ahead at Rainbow, who was in the lead. _Nah. I'm not here to beat her. I'm just here for a good run. And I better pace myself too. Can't have myself getting tired quickly._

C—S—A—RD—PP—C—S—A—RD—PP—C—S—A—RD—PP

Later…

Chronicle slowed enough to that he wouldn't get fatigued easily, though not enough for Rainbow to exit his vision. As he did, somepony caught up to him. At first he thought it was Mjölna, but after looking at her cutie mark he saw that it was her twin sister Tasty Snack.

"Hey, Chronicle.", she greeted.

"Hey. Say, is Mjölna in the race?"

"No. While she may be physically strong given her skills in blacksmithing, she's slow on her feet."

"Ah."

Before they could say any more, Applejack zoomed past them. Almost immediately, not wanting to stick around Tasty for some reason, Chronicle picked up the pace as well.

"Wait up.", Mjölna's twin called out as she caught up with Chronicle. As they did, they saw the farmpony bypass a trotting Rainbow Dash.

"See you at the finish line!", Applejack said and Rainbow stopped short and gapes after her, giving Tasty and Chronicle time to bypass her as well.

"I don't believe it!", gasped Spike from the balloon. "After a huge setback, Applejack is back at the front of the pack!"

"She's the head of the pack, all right! The pick of the litter! The cat's pajamas!...Oh, wait. Why would Applejack take some poor kitty's PJ's?" The boys on board with her were perplexed at this. "That's not very sporting of her."

"Okay…let's get back to the race."

Meanwhile, Rainbow had managed to bypass Chronicle and Tasty and was slowly pulling up next to Applejack. "Not so fast, Applejack! This race isn't over yet!"

"It is for you!" A quick bit of acceleration put her out in front again.

"Watch out.", Tasty tried to caution Rainbow.

It wasn't heeded as she tumbled forward from a tree stump instead. "Whoa!"

"Told you." She shrugged as she and Chronicle went around and continued ahead after Applejack.

"Later, alligator.", the unicorn taunted before leaving the pegasus in the dust and giggling after. Tasty gave him a look. "I always wanted to say that." He then gave a sigh. "I got a feeling this entire conflict will escalate."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, Rainbow just tripped. Given how much she hates Applejack, she'll assume she cheated."

"How did you get to that conclusion?"

"I know them personally."

"I see."

C—S—A—RD—PP—TS—C—S—A—RD—PP—TS

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - Above an autumn forest, the hot air balloon flies in from the left, Pinkie Pie and Spike visible on board as the former then pulls out the show's logo and displays it.

Below, the following ponies run from left to right: Applejack, Chronicle, Tasty Snack, the crowd of ponies, a bipedal-running Heartstrings, Mystic Shield, and Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle trots in shortly after.

C—S—A—RD—PP—TS—C—S—A—RD—PP—TS

Farther ahead in the course was a bridge over a river at the mouth of a waterfall. The balloon had floated ahead there as the crowd were soon approaching it.

"Welcome back, Ponyvillians!", said the announcer. "It's me, Pinkie Pie!"

"And Spike!", said her co-host as the first four placers crossed the bridge; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Chronicle, and Tasty Snack. "Looks like Rainbow's doing her best to catch up, with Chronicle and an earth pony named Tasty Snack right behind them!"

"I'm not sure how ketchup is gonna help her in this contest. Now in a hot dog eating contest, it can make them doggies nice and slippery, but personally I prefer mustard." Spike and the Chronicle clone on board again tried with no luck to make head or tail of her commentary. "How about you, Spike?"

"Uh…I like pickles?"

"Hotdogs? What's in them?", asked the Chronicle clone. _Since we're vegetarians, hopefully they're really veggie dogs._

Pinkie just ignored him and went back to announcing. "Aaaaand…it looks like Applejack has found herself in quite a pickle as Rainbow overtakes her!"

Back on the ground, indeed that was the case. "Look, Ma, no wings! ", Rainbow taunted as they entered a new stretch of trees, while the balloon floated up to clear their tops.

"As the racers enter Equestria's Whitetail Wood, Rainbow Dash is back in the lead!", Spike commentated.

Rainbow's face went slack with shock as she noticed a low branch at head level. She chuckled and caught it in her teeth, pulling it briefly out of the way without breaking stride, then let it snap back. This branch struck Applejack and Tasty and knocked them down, but Chronicle slid under it as its leaves brushed his mane and horn. This caused him to lose some speed however and as he worked to speed up again.

"Oww!", groaned Tasty as she was left behind.

"Hey! Rainbow!", he heard Applejack say, then looked ahead to see the pegasus blow a raspberry.

"Why, I oughta shoot you down right now, but we're in a race.", the unicorn scolded.

"Stay out of this!", Rainbow replied.

"No can do. I'm running to win as well." While he wasn't running to beat her, he's still gonna give his all.

"Heheh. You can't catch up with me!"

"We'll see."

The pegasus just turned away and said to herself. "Nice one, Rainbow."

Just then, something collided behind Chronicle and he and it began to roll ahead for a few seconds. "Later!", he heard a familiar voice as they got off each other and continued running without losing speed.

"Applejack. Watch where you sail.", he scolded the second time in the race as she began to go ahead.

"Sorry.", she replied but it wasn't sincere. She then looked back and Chronicle did so too and saw Rainbow gaining on them fast.

Applejack then spotted a beehive on a branch up ahead and stopped just long enough to buck the tree in which it is hanging. The hive came loose right after Chronicle passed the tree. A second later, he heard a scream, looked back, and saw Rainbow fleeing a swarm of bees. As they were headed his way, he picked up the pace as well, using the bees as an incentive.

Up ahead was a trail junction, with branches leading left and right, and a sign with an arrow pointing right to indicate the racecourse. While Rainbow reached this and dove into a nearby bush, Chronicle continued to run and thankfully the bees did not chase him.

_Damn that Applejack! She could've __**killed**__ Rainbow if it turns out she's allergic to bees! I'm so smacking her later!_ Chronicle slowed down a bit after that, remembering to breathe through the nostrils. He would dehydrate faster if he breathed through the mouth. _Heheh. Looks like I'm on first now. Boy would they be surprised to see a unicorn win the race._

This thought was cut off upon hearing faint barking. He didn't turn around, deciding to watch where he was going. A few seconds later, a frantic Mystic Shield bypassed him, followed by a quick-running dog he failed to catch the breed of (though he was certain it wasn't Winona). Indeed a unicorn was about to win the race, but it wasn't going to be Chronicle.

_Oh for—as much as I like Mystic Shield, I'm not gonna allow myself to lose to a cynophobic pony with a proper incentive!_ Quickly, the unicorn began to intensify his leg enhancement spell and started running faster.

C—S—A—RD—PP—MS—TS—C—S—A—RD—PP—MS—TS

Later in the race…

Chronicle was faltering, but he couldn't give up now. Even when Rainbow Dash had managed to overtake him. Even as the leaves continued to fall. Even with the rest of the racers right behind. And when he checked them, he noted that neither Bon Bon nor Lyra were in the crowd. Still, Mystic had gone too far ahead for even Rainbow to consider him. He probably didn't even cross her mind. And Chronicle wasn't about to tell her.

Just then, the balloon where the announcers were drifted down with Applejack hanging onto a dangling rope. She swung down ahead of Rainbow and flipped her a sardonic little salute, prompting a shocked gasp.

Needless to say, the pegasus was shocked. "What the hay? You said no flying!"

Applejack let go to start galloping. "No, I said **no wings**."

Chronicle didn't ask how she fell behind as his clone would probably know. They all charged on through an area in which each tree's trunk had been fitted with a half-pipe chute, through which sap ran to drip into a bucket hung on the end. _What the— I don't recall trees having to be sapped around this season._

"I must say, Spike, that this has been the most interesting Running of the Leaves in Equestria history!", Pinkie commented.

"With the most interesting announcing.", the dragon added under his breath.

"You got that right.", snarked the clone on board. Back on the ground, Applejack raced on, kicking a bucket loose so that its contents spilled all over the path.

"But it isn't the running that's been fascinating.", Pinkie said. When the sky-blue sprinter hit the sap, she soon found every hoof glued down in it. "It's the lack of running!"

As Rainbow tried to pull free, Chronicle bypassed her and all the others rumbled past as well, bringing down plenty of leaves. _Just a little more._, he thought to himself.

As he ran for another minute with Applejack still on his sights, he saw a large bump ahead. He jumped over it…and a sailing Rainbow zipped right under him in the split second he was in the air. This caused him to lose focus as he tumbled along the forest floor, but he quickly found his footing again and continued on as he saw the farmpony was set spinning as a four-legged tornado. This little twister veered along and apparently sucked up Rainbow as well, if the color was any indication.

With both of them screaming, they veered off the path and up a rocky incline for a short distance before wiping out. As Chronicle continued to run, panting on the inside, he could see the finish line up ahead just outside Ponyville proper, attended by a cheering crowd.

_A little more and I can rest._, he thought as he allowed himself a smile.

As he neared the finish, he could see Mystic up a tree shivering on a branch as the dog chasing him barked up it. He was then caught off guard as Doctor Whooves caught up to him, looking quite fresh.

"Hey Chronicle.", he greeted. "I'd love to chat, but I got a second place medal to win." He added under his breath, "Sad to say…", as he zoomed ahead.

_Dammit! I'm on third now!_ He then risked a look back and saw Carrot Top about to catch up as well. And right behind her, Twilight Sparkle was moving fast. _Geez!_ He tried to run a bit faster, but he was running on empty. Still, the finish line was just up that last incline and he was really close now. He can't give up just yet. _Come on, come on, come on!_

Upon passing the finish line a few seconds later, he quickly slowed down as his charge and the carrot farmer passed him by and before he knew it, he was down on the ground, breathing heavily, and was later out like a light.

C—TS—S—GH—A—RD—PP—DH—C—TS—S—GH—A—RD—PP—DH

Less than a minute ago…

Back at the balloon, the Chronicle clone watched with Spike and Pinkie as it kept pace with two certain fierce competitors after they had gotten down the rocky incline. Spike had again let his microphone hang over the side, wondering if should have his head examined for signing on as announcer.

"Once again, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are neck and neck, jockeying for position!", announced Pinkie. "Applejack inches ahead…now it's Rainbow…it's Applejack…it's Rainbow Dash…it's Applejack!"

Below, both faces brightened upon seeing the finish line, although they failed to notice those who already crossed it. Rainbow then suddenly eased over and bumped into Applejack. "Oh, no, she di-in't!", Spike said.

Applejack did likewise. "Oh, yes, she di-id!"

After another bump from Rainbow, Applejack said, "Cut it out!"

"No, you cut it out!"

"You started it!"

"And now I'm gonna finish it!" Rainbow pulled ahead.

"Oh, no, you won't!" A mouthful of technicolor tail was all she needed to yank Rainbow backward and move ahead—but the latter moved up fast.

"Oh, yes, I will!"

She pulled Applejack back in the same fashion and charged up. When Applejack tried again, she missed Rainbow's tail but got a mouthful of the ropes tying her wings down—which snapped and unwound, leaving the pegasus to start flapping and lift off. "That's it! All bets are off!"

Applejack jumped up after her. "Oh, no, you don't!"

Paying no heed whatsoever to the flabbergasted spectators, she tackled Rainbow out of the air. Dust floated up from below as the two crashed down and got into a rolling brawl on the home stretch. And Chronicle finally saw Lyra and Bon Bon just behind. The former was still on twos, but her forelegs were now on the latter's back as support.

"Is that-?", Lyra gasped.

"They are!", Bon Bon cried.

They shared a look. "We're not the last ones! Go, Bon Bon, go!" Lyra shouted, rearing back up on her hind legs. "Run! We can make it!"

The two of them ran ahead together and the unicorn waved her front legs triumphantly in the air as she crossed the finish line on her own two legs, only a yard behind Bon Bon and almost ten yards ahead of the bickering athletes.

And as those two neared the finish line, Spike was beginning to enjoy himself again as Pinkie continued to announce, "It's Applejack…it's Rainbow Dash…it's Applejack…it's Rainbow Dash!" And the two finally crossed the finish line. However, the the beat-down continued until they have rolled with a loud crash.

Rainbow was the first to get up, her mane, wings, and coat in total disarray, and smiled once she caught her breath. "I won!", she whooped.

Applejack was up as well and in just as bad a shape. "No, I won!"

"I won!"

"You tied!", Spike called from the balloon.

"Tied?!", both said.

"For first?", Applejack asked as they turned to the balloon.

"For last!", Pinkie corrected.

"Last?!"

"Then…who won?", Rainbow dared ask.

Twilight—and another magical clone of Chronicle summoned since the real him was currently passed out—walked over, a medal hanging around the former's neck.

"You?", the two dirty fighters gasped.

"Oh, no, but I did get fifth place—which is rather good, considering I've never run a race before."

"What?", Applejack gasped. "How's that even possible?"

"You ran so slow, and looked at the scenery!", Rainbow said.

"Exactly! I paced myself, just like my book said. Then at the end, when all the other ponies were worn out…" She glanced back to a group of winded and collapsed pegasi, among them Cloud Kicker (number 5) and Dizzy Twister. "…I sprinted to the finish."

"I don't believe it. Twilight beat us!"

"Not just you.", said Chronicle. "For the actual first placer, that privilege goes to Mystic Shield." He pointed at the unicorn, who was finally coaxed down the tree and was wearing his medal proudly over his ascot. "As it was, a dog had chased him and gave him the boost he needed. Following was Doctor Whooves, who actually has a lot of experience in running." He indicated the drab brown earth pony, who looked proud for himself. "I came in third…" He gestured to the real him, resting peacefully with a medal around his neck. "Barely beating Carrot Top by half a nose…" Said carrot farmer turned to Applejack and stuck out her tongue, clearly relishing her victory over her. "…and Twilight by two noses."

"Well, with all your horsing around, it was quite easy.", said his charge.

"Huh. You're right, Twilight.", said Applejack. "Our behavior was just terrible."

Rainbow gave a sighing. "We weren't very good sports."

Just then, several of the spectators gasped at the sound of the next voice and knelt. "Sounds to me like an important lesson was learned.", it said as its speaker stepped into view.

"Princess Celestia?!", the pegasus and two unicorns gasped.

"What are you doin' here?", Applejack asked as they all knelt.

"Fall is one of my favorite seasons, so I came to celebrate the Running of the Leaves.", Celestia explained as they stood.

"I'm sorry you had to see us being such a poor sport, Princess."

"That's all right, Applejack. Anypony can get swept up in the excitement of competition."

"It's important to remember that the friendship is always more important than the competition.", said Twilight.

"Exactly, Twilight. Now unfortunately, because the two of you were busy tricking each other instead of shaking down leaves—" She turned to a stretch of forest whose trees were still fully loaded. "—many of the lovely trees in Equestria are still covered."

"Why, Princess, I bet we can knock those leaves down for you lickety-split." Applejack offered, then turned to Rainbow. "What do you say, friend? Wanna go for another run?"

Rainbow limbered up a foreleg. "I'd love to stretch my legs."

She took off like a shot, Applejack rearing up and doing likewise a moment later, and teacher, student, and bodyguard watched them go. Once they were gone, Chronicle turned to Celestia and said, "I'll have to say that this year's running was interesting in more ways than one."

"What makes you say that?", Celestia asked as Twilight went off somewhere.

"Well, I'm not sure how many unicorns reached first place or even ranked high in the standings, but I think I can say this one had the most. Twilight reached fifth by tactics, I barely reached third by my own athletics and a boost on my legs, and my friend Mystic Shield reached first thanks to a dog chasing him; he's afraid of dogs."

Celestia gave a hearty chuckle. "I'll have to agree with you. Until now, no unicorn has ever placed high in the Running of the Leaves. And I'll have to say the one who ran on twos really showed a lot of daring to do that. And it was kind of the earth pony who helped her through the end."

The two glanced at Lyra, who was lying on the ground aching all over, with Bon Bon bringing in Nurse Redheart to help her. "Yeah. Although running bipedally with a quadruped body does have severe consequences."

"I see. And did you know that during the last Running of the Leaves, Pinkie Pie was the winner?"

"Really?"

"From what I heard, she went so fast the leaves followed her through the force of the wind she created, nearly eliminating the purpose of the event."

Chronicle gave a chuckle as he imagined the scenario in his head. "For some reason, I think that would've been hilarious."

Celestia chuckled along with him. "…Say, could you tell me about Mystic Shield?"

This confused the bodyguard a bit. "Why would you want to know about him?"

"…Never mind. I realize that isn't the right way to know a new friend."

"So you've been learning through your student's letters?", Chronicle wagered a guess.

"That's right. And Luna too, given everything she's been through, not to mention how outdated she is with the times."

"A thousand years of imprisonment will give you that."

The two of them spoke no more as they looked over the forest, which was slowly losing all its leaves. The clone then dismissed himself afterward, along with the one that was on the balloon, which continued to fly as Pinkie decided to watch her friends run.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Notes:  
(1) Ginger Cloud, like Clockwork, is just a one-shot character meant to "advertise" different alternate universes of Equestria where they have capital differences to the canon show.  
(2) I based what Chronicle pulled off from a scene in _Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron_ during the song "Get Off My Back".  
(3) For extra text, I decided to fill in the rest of the events with whatever I could. And given the Chick Wrangling, I decided that not all events have to test strength, endurance, or speed. I added precision to the list.  
(4) To be honest, I had the jousting planned even before Season 3 aired.  
(5) Regular cornhole corn bags weigh 14 to 16 ounces, but I decided to take into account that ponies are smaller than humans.  
(6) I considered Coconut Shy in place of the Ladder Toss, but I saw the complications from lack of hands. Also, this and the Cornhole I'm actually not that familiar with; I just used them as filler for the 20 events.

nightelf37: I sincerely apologize for Derpy having number 13. I hope you understand why. Also, I implemented "The Running of Lyra" by Lurks-no-More in deviantART and FIMFiction as a "background event" just because I wanted to. See ya on Third!


	18. Chapter 19: A Dog and Pony Show

Disclaimer: I own only the following: All of my OCs, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**(WCDDtEo) Chapter 19: A Dog and Pony Show**

Daytime in Ponyville…

Taking the advice he received from the last Running of the Leaves into account, Mystic Shield began taking his students into jogging sessions. He had considered inviting Rarity to try and at least participate in one class, but she had recently received a request from the Pony of Pop, Sapphire Shores. The entire class had managed to see the Canterlot celebrity walk out of Carousel Boutique as they passed by.

Sapphire Shores was a long-legged earth pony mare with a light yellow-brown coat, eyes a darker shade of this color, lavender eyeshadow, and curly hair striped in two shades of bright blue. She wore four purple shoes with light green jewels, a ruffled white blouse/dress trimmed with light blue-gold-and-purple accents and a white-and-light-blue powder puff over the tail, and a small white top hat with a purple ribbon. She also either amazingly didn't have a cutie mark or had concealed it somehow cosmetically.

At the sight of her, nearly everypony gushed at the sight of her and immediately ran over to her presumably to get an autograph, much to Mystic's consternation. Thankfully for the class, who had brought out paper and writing materials for the autograph, the celebrity had the time to sign them. Chronicle also decided to get one as well if only to use as a trading material; celebrity fans usually accept signed autographs as tradable goods.

Once they were finished, the entire class ended up following Sapphire until she reached a hotel she was staying in, and where her bodyguards barred them from continuing on. Mystic then got back his class's attention and they continued in their jogging exercise. As they did that, Mystic noticed that his co-teacher was sad and deep in thought, even when he was requesting for Sapphire's autograph.

Concerned, he brought it up. "Chronicle.", he called.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? You've been like this since our exercise."

"Oh. You see…" Just before he could explain, he felt his eyes go very sore for some reason. He 'took out' a napkin from "hammerspace" and rubbed them, put it back, then continued. Of course, he did not tell Mystic everything.

C—MS—SS—C—MS—SS—C—MS—SS—C—MS—SS

Last night, in the dreamscape…

Chronicle was busy meditating when a ripple in the dreamscape came. Somepony was entering. When he opened his eyes, he saw it was Blue Diary.

"Chronicle. I have an urgent message for you.", the pegasus immediately said, looking a bit tired.

"A message? What is it?"

"You shall meet me in person in the future. But what I will eventually know now I will not when we meet."

Chronicle raised a hoof in a stopping gesture. "Hold on. Is this what I think it is? I will meet a past you or something?"

Blue nodded. "Yes. And the Elements of Harmony in my world will also meet yours."

"Oh dear, we're gonna have some trouble there. Hold on, since you already took care of it, could you tell me how it goes?"

"Sorry, but I don't recall all the specific details. And I wouldn't want to change how things go or have you follow events step-by-step. You know how time travel can give migraines to those who dwell in it too far or too much. And following things step-by-step have their own problems."

"Oh, right. Very serious problems. It may make you look…immoral, and we don't exactly have omniscient morality licenses."

"We aren't even on that level."

"I know." The unicorn then realized something. "Wait. If I can't do anything to change what will happen, why are you even telling me this?"

"I'd rather it be sooner than later. That, and I might probably forget. My memory isn't as strong as yours, where you remember nearly everypony you meet."

Chronicle blushed mildly at this. "Hey, I'm not that good."

"Sure you are. The only names I'm familiar with are those of the Elements of Harmony, their immediate relatives, their co-workers, and our foes, including that Duke Greengrass. Damn, I hate that politician."

"You and me both. I guess it runs in the family. Hate for politicians, especially—"

"Lawyers.", they both finished. "Because we can't fight them like we do other bad guys."

"Although Trixie has some experience in law, which me and my friends will most definitely need. Nearly everypony in the Night Court is a very corrupt politician or a puppet for them." Blue began to look desperate. "Each of them are making their bid on taking control of the Elements of Harmony for various reasons related to protection against Corona." Tears began to well up in his eyes. "I'm in over my head just thinking about it. And I can't not think about it because I know how the Night Court can ruin our lives, and that includes little Dinky and her mother Ditzy. I just can't bear the thought of a broken family being broken further."

What the pegasus did next was something Chronicle should've expected but still surprised nonetheless; Blue threw himself into the unicorn's arms and started crying. The older brother could do nothing but pat Blue on the shoulder. Apparently, the knowledge of the Elements of Harmony in Luna Equestria is widely known while in Equestria Prime only Ponyville and Canterlot Castle (not the city as a whole) know. And because of that, no politicians—to Chronicle's knowledge at least—are on the move to take advantage of his friends.

Finally, Blue was done and broke off from his brother, still sniffling for a bit. "I'm sorry, brother. I shouldn't be burdening you with this. It's not like you have to face what I'm facing. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; you're lucky where you are, Chronicle."

"You're right. I guess I am." The unicorn seemed to have an idea. "Say, have you considered asking Mom or Dad about this?"

"No. You know Dad's not into much hard thinking and Mom's only has minimal tolerance for lawyers."

"What about asking any relatives who are in the political business? Or asking our parents of them?"

Blue lighted up a bit on this. "I guess. Thanks for the pep talk."

"It wasn't really. Speaking of which, could you teach me how to visit the dreamscapes of other members in the family I haven't been to yet once you're feeling better?"

"Why don't I teach you right now?"

"Maybe another time. I'm not sure I'll be able to listen after just seeing you cry like that."

"Okay." He brushed off a tear. And with that, he disappeared back to his own dreamscape.

Chronicle gave a sigh. "Poor Crais. So torn up from the politic interference in his friends' lives. I guess I really am lucky." (1)

C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD—C—BD

Back in the present…

Throughout the re-telling, Chronicle felt pressures on his body that usually came when he was pulled physically by something grabbing onto his body and trying to pull him back. He ignored this and did not show any obvious signs. (2)

"So basically, your brother—who is also in the bodyguarding business like you—is having trouble coping with the fact that there are some corrupt political figures after his charge and her friends."

"Yes." He didn't tell Mystic that Blue Diary was technically no longer one, or that Blue's friends were the Elements of Harmony in a different universe.

"Wow. That must be really hard for him."

"Yeah. He's tougher than I am in a fight, but politics are out of our league, and it brought him to tears."

"I see."

"Thanks for listening to me."

"Hey, what're friends for?"

Just then, the class made its way to the town square pavilion, where Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were. They were standing around, not doing much of anything until the pink earth pony noticed the group.

"Hey, Chronicle!", she greeted. "Mystic Shield!" She proceeded to name everypony else. "Greatstone! Bullseye! Chrono Cards! Tricky Books! Heartstrings! Twinkle! Lemon Hearts! Minuette! Amethyst Star! Dinky! Pokey Pierce! Sea Swirl! Holly Dash! Firecracker Burst! Comet Tail! Ponet! Written Script! Dinky!"

Just after she named the only foal in Mystic's class, there came a cry in the distance that was steadily getting closer. Everypony turned around to see a frantic Spike rushing towards them, arms raised into the air in panic.

He skidded to a halt right before them and quickly started pointing and gesturing in the direction he had just come from. "Rarity! Woods! Jewels! Dogs! Taken! Save her!"

Everypony shared a collective look of confusion but the little dragon's panic made it clear something was wrong. Grabbing Spike with her teeth, Twilight tossed the dragon onto her back and rushed off in the direction he had been gesturing to. Her friends immediately followed close behind her.

Due to some kind of crowd instinct, Mystic Shield's entire class followed for a while before the realized one by one "What the hay am I doing?" and slowed in their stop before stopping. Rarity wasn't their friend, and her friends seem to have the situation handled, so why accompany them?

Mystic also stopped as well, to Chronicle's confusion as he paused in his run, leaving his friends behind. "Huh? Aren't you coming?"

"I just realized Spike mentioned dogs. I can't help you there."

Chronicle was about to counter when he remembered that Mystic was afraid of dogs. "Fine. May I go?"

"Sure. You're dismissed."

"Hold on. May I borrow your ascot?"

Mystic conceded as he 'took' it off and 'gave' it to Chronicle, who 'stored' it in "hammerspace". "Why?"

"I know a pinpointing spell, and I feel we might be going a very long way, so—"

"You're gonna use the spell on my ascot as a means to find your way home?", the teacher finished. "Genius."

"Yeah. Thanks." Immediately, the bodyguard cast a spell on his feet, then he was off after his friends, leaving a small wind in his wake.

Once he was gone, Mystic then turned to his students. "All right, class. Let's head back to the dojo. We'll take a 15-minute break, then we'll practice double-casting." The class groaned at this.

C—TS—T—M—LH—AS—LH—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—SS—D—MS—G–TB–B–CC—CT—FB—P—WS—HD

As Chronicle continued to run, he began to look back to remember just what Rarity had been doing during his jogging session. If he recalled correctly, Rarity had gone to the rocky woodlands (which were not in the direction of the Whitetail Wood or, Celestia forbid, the Everfree Forest) to find gems.

Spike had accompanied her to help dig, not to mention also help himself to some of them. Now that he thought of it, this was probably the reason why—without enhancements—he was weaker than Rarity in terms of physical strength; before Spike, she probably had to mine the gems on her own and thus would have had to build up a strong body for the task of carrying them back home.

And then another thought puzzled him; during the one time he went gem-hunting with Rarity, accompanied by Twilight as she learned a spell from the fashion designer, he noticed that the gems they dug up were not only bigger than he expected, they were also naturally flawlessly cut and perfectly shiny, even while they're still in the ground. From what he was taught, uncut gems are indistinguishable from ordinary rocks to the untrained eye. He then decided to chuck it off as magic. If the weather was manually managed, what other differences does Equestria have in comparison to what he was once familiar with?

He slowed in his step as he finally caught up with his friends. He could see Spike on Twilight's back, hyperventilating into a paper bag. As he joined them, Applejack asked him, "What took you?"

"I was trying to convince Mystic Shield to come with us, but after hearing that dogs were involved, he stayed behind."

"Coward.", grumbled Rainbow as she flew above them.

"Hey. He might've been detrimental in our quest. And you remember what happens when we have to drag a phobic pony every step of the way." He nudged his head to Fluttershy—who flapped her wings as she ran with the others—as a silent reminder of the "dragon in the mountain" incident.

"Oh, right. Wait! By quest, you're implying something similar to our trip to the mountain?"

"Yes." Finally, they reached the rocky expanse where Rarity had been searching for gems.

"How did you come to that conclusion?", asked Pinkie.

He was about to answer, but was cut off by his charge. "Spike! Can you breathe now?"

The dragon lifted his face from the bag. "Yes…" He said with a pant. "…I think so.

"Good. Now tell us what you know."

"Yeah, 'cause all you said earlier was…", Rainbow began before Chronicle cut her off.

"Rarity. Woods. Jewels. Dogs. Hole. Taken. Save her.", he recalled. "Is that right?" Spike nodded.

"Not a whole lot to go on there, sport.", Applejack mused.

"Sorry. Rarity and I were in the woods looking for jewels, when these creepy guys showed up."

"Creepy guys?", Twilight echoed.

"They called themselves the Diamond Dogs. They grabbed Rarity and disappeared down a hole in the ground!"

"Well, this sounds mighty easy.", said Applejack. "Just take us to that there hole and we'll save Rarity!

"Sounds easy, but if I know my adventures well, it very well won't be.", warned Chronicle as they soon arrived at an empty patch of woods, stopping short on a ridge with a round of gasps. They overlooked a wide stretch of earth pocked with dozens of holes.

"Holy moley, that's a lotta holeys!", Pinkie said as Twilight and Spike passed everypony else.

"Come on, girls, boys.", the bookworm said. "Let's get started."

Everypony went to a hole and started checking them. "Hellooooo?", she called down a hole.

Chronicle, on the other hoof, took out his Surveillance and furrowed his brows at what he saw. While the 'camera' on Rarity was still functional, all he got was gray random dots and white noise, the combination of which he called static. "Darn, I pinpoint her location.", he said. "I think there's interference somehow."

"What do you mean by interference?"

The stallion then realized that his friends probably don't know what he's talking about. "It means something's preventing me from seeing what Rarity's camera is seeing. Maybe she's deep underground in some caves below."

Suddenly, as he failed to pay attention to the hissing growl, the hole he stood in front of spewed a geyser of earth spewed up into his face, covering it and leaving the shaft blocked. The same happened to the rest, one after another and as they started to fill, Twilight—having gotten a face full of dirt herself— shook herself clean.

"Quick! We gotta get down one before they're all filled up!", she said.

"Easier said than done!", growled Chronicle as he—after cleaning himself up too—saw open tunnels block themselves off around Fluttershy. "We may eventually have to do our own digging!" Around him, he could see Pinkie get hoisted by an upwelling of soil, Applejack was pushed off from one geyser in spite of her efforts to bulldoze her way through the soil splattering out.

"We can't muscle through it!", Applejack said as she got up without her hat but with a fresh face full of muck.

"We'll see about that.", Rainbow dared.

"Rainbow! Pick me up! I got an idea!", Chronicle said.

Without a word, she went over to him, picked him up, ascended for a bit, then went into a screaming vertical dive straight toward one of the last two open holes. As they began to pick up speed, Chronicle teleported out of the pegasus's grip and straight for the other hole. The unicorn stallion began to spin "like a drill" as he 'drew' his "magic horn blade".

Eventually, both holes began to fill up. Rainbow hit the brakes just short of the fresh dirt pile and ending up lying atop it on her belly before rising off it with a winded gasp. As for Chronicle, he continued into the pile and managed to dig through part of the dirt before stopping, dangling upside down in the air thanks to his "horn blade".

"Dammit!", he cried out as he 'dismissed' his blade and landed on the dirt pile horn first. "I thought I could pull it off."

Applejack cleaned herself up again and donned her hat. "Whoo! Heavens to Betsy! Now I'm used to pickin' myself up and dustin' myself off, but Rarity won't even touch mud 'less it's imported."

The girls and Spike all looked up worriedly. "Oh, Rarity…", Twilight said.

"I hate diggers…", cursed the stallion as he got up and rubbed his head. "I wonder how Rarity's faring. I certainly hope she isn't fussing over dirt. Hopefully, it'll be rocky."

"We gotta save her!" said Applejack.

"But they blocked up all the holes!", Fluttershy pointed out.

Applejack jumped onto a dirt pile. "Don't mean we can't dig 'em out! Come on!"

"Just what I had in mind.", said Chronicle. "Pinkie, you got a shovel?"

"Whyever would you assume I have one?", she asked as she and Fluttershy joined in the digging in separate piles.

Just then, before he could answer, he saw something pop out from a pile behind the pink earth pony. It was presumably a Diamond Dog. This one wore a dark gray vest whose pockets bulged with gems and have diamond-studded black collars. he also had brown fur, had black eyes, and was slightly smaller than an average pony.

The stallion's eyes lit up in recognition as he identified the canine. Months ago, he had taken up a rescue mission in Canterlot's Request Board. From his experience in the mission, the culprits were a trio of Diamond Dogs he had identified by the names Rover, Spot, and Fido. The one he was seeing right now was Spot.

As the canine grabbed Pinkie's tail and pulled it, Chronicle let loose a 'shuriken' and it hit the canine. He yelped in pain as he let the tail snap back, knocking Pinkie down her pile.

He then turned to where Fluttershy was, and saw another Diamond Dog. This one also had black eyes and was rather large. This one was Fido. As he picked her up by the rump, this act blew a fuse in Chronicle's mind as he swiftly charged straight for him and drew his "horn blade". As the canine dropped her, the equine swung the "blade" as the Diamond Dog went underground, striking the pile, but there was no howl of pain.

This irked him further as he saw Spike trip up thanks to Fido sticking a leg up. As he slowly began to lose patience, he saw Fido and Spot come up just behind Twilight and Rainbow. bracketed between the two as they realized it.

"Get 'em!", the pegasus yelled as the three charged on hoof and wing, but the enemies plunged away just in time. While Twilight and Rainbow slammed squarely into each other and tumbled down, Chronicle swung his blade again at the mound below them, but did not get any cries of pain either, further shortening his fuse.

As he turned to Applejack, he saw a third Diamond Dog come up for a look. This one had red reptilian eyes with yellow scleras, a yellow gem attached to a diamond-studded black collar, a short, warty tail, and a red vest whose pockets were stuffed with gems. It was their leader Rover.

Applejack threw him a glare and stretched out one foreleg to hit him. He ducked down and popped up in a hill behind her, so she swung across to hit that one instead—still no good. This happened twice more, after which Applejack glanced to one side and voiced a surprised gasp.

Pinkie jumped to where Fido was, only for him to drop out of sight, then grab her tail, dragging her away to slam into an earth pile. The ensuing tussle got entirely chaotic. Chronicle's friends were tripped up or had their tailed yanked while he missed every single attack he pulled off. In the end, the Dogs were gone and, they were all sprawled-out and exhausted and lay among the blocked holes, but they were soon up again.

"All those scary monsters popping up everywhere!", Fluttershy said. "Oh, poor Rarity must be terrified!"

Twilight moaned at this. All this was too much for Chronicle as he closed his eyes and screamed skyward at the top of his lungs in frustration. Then, to the surprise of his friends, a blue aura burst around his body and the force of it blew his mane and tail upwards. This aura also sent out an invisible force pushing outward from it, blowing away stray dirt and knocking down everyone around him as they stared in shock as they got up. Ten seconds later, Chronicle calmed down, the aura faded, and his hair fell back into place as he breathed heavily.

His friends gave him a few more seconds to regain his composure, then Rainbow started the question. "What. Was. That?"

He turned to the cyan pegasus. "Sorry. I just hate those guys! Cowards, that's what they are."

"So you're familiar with them?"

"Yeah. I once took a rescue mission from the Canterlot Request Board."

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

"The kidnapped pony was Banana Fluff, who is a gem collector and jeweler." (3)_, Chronicle said in the present. _"The Diamond Dogs are experts in digging and are gem hunters but I don't know their motives for it. They're also not particularly smart."

_The unicorn freelancer (as he was back then when without a bodyguard contract) was walking down the underground tunnels the Diamond Dogs use, which were thankfully lit by orange covered lanterns. _

"The pack I encountered were led by a trio I eventually identified under the names Rover, Spot, and Fido. They were the ones who attacked us earlier.

_Chronicle stopped for a moment and gazed at the tunnels, wary of attackers._

"Wait! There were just three?!", Pinkie interrupted. "It felt like there were a lot more than that!"

"Believe me, it was just three. Like I said before, they're experts in digging. Now no interruptions, okay?"

"Okie-dokie-lokie!"

_After deducing that the coast was clear for the moment, he 'took out' a "Missing" poster from "hammerspace" he was provided to help in finding his target._

"Thank you. Anyway, these three and their pack are not above kidnapping anyone whose gem-finding abilities prove to be better. And Banana Fluff was one of their many victims. She isn't from Canterlot by the way, but a friend of hers—the one who posted the request—is."

_From what he could tell by looking at the picture, Fluff was a unicorn mare, bore a pale yellow coat, purple hair with a streak of a lighter shade, magenta eyes, and the same cutie mark as Lemon Hearts; three hearts, two of them blue, and one of them green. It was awkward to call her Banana, especially after hearing a certain rumor about them that involved Princess Celestia. He then 'returned' the poster and continued walking._

"Unlike Rarity however, Fluff doesn't use a spell for her gem-finding but instead owns a special dowsing device. Due to their…mediocre intelligence, rather than just steal the device, they decided to kidnap her as well."

_After exiting another tunnel, he stopped short at what he saw. Right ahead, wearing a large, dirty harness chained to a cart filled with gems was Fluff. She looked like she hadn't eaten or washed in days. Held aloft in a magenta aura was a piece of iron that held on one end a blue crystal ball, most likely the special dowsing device she owns. Surrounding her were not only Rover, Spot, and Fido, but also large canines clad in armor and wielding spears. He would later identify these as Dig Dogs, the grunts of the pack._

"When I found her, she was tired and hungry, although they still gave her water. "

_Everydog sensed him and immediately turned to face the intruder. Sensing a battle, Chronicle 'drew' a sword hilt from "hammerspace", then used a spell to form the blade. This was his "magic horn blade" spell before he began implementing it on his unicorn horn. Rover then ordered the grunts to charge and Chronicle followed suit._

"Of course, they weren't about to give her up so easily. That or they were gonna make me one of their workhorses. I gave them what for."

_It had been a grueling fight and he wasn't experienced in fights as he is today, receiving scratches and slight wounds on his body. In the end, all of the Dig Dogs were incapacitated, Rover and his cohorts were cornered with Chronicle's 'sword' pointed at them, and Fluff was set free. After revealing that the Dig Dogs weren't actually killed but could easily have been, he was allowed to leave with Fluff and her "dowsing wand"._

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

"In the end, the mission was a success. I managed to get Fluff back to her friend, who sent her to a hospital since in case of other traumas I failed to see, I got my pay, and what happened after that is no longer relevant."

There were various murmurs, oohs, and aahs. After that, Pinkie had a question, but not related to the Diamond Dogs. "Say, about that burst of magic you pulled off earlier. What does it do?"

"I've never seen anything like it before.", remarked Twilight. "And I don't think it's something that just happens when a unicorn gets angry. I should know, since I've had greater outbursts than he did and I never pulled that off."

"We can talk about by mysterious outburst another time.", Chronicle decided to change the subject. "Right now, Rarity's been ponynapped and we're no closer to rescuing her.

"You're right. I'll just look it up later." She then gave a sigh as Spike moved to the fore. "Poor Rarity! What are we gonna do?"

Just then, the dragon's reptilian green eyes flicked to one side—and spotted across the heaps of topsoil a single unfilled hole. "I got it!", he gasped, then dug in a "pocket"—unusual, since he is not wearing any clothes—and produced a blue gem bigger than his claw. "I'll save you, my sweet!" As he then ran off, the ponies looked at each other in confusion.

"Huh?", they said.

"So dragons have access to hammerspace too?", Chronicle added in wonder. "That's new."

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP—S—F—R

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (video-type) - A whack-a-mole game is in play, but in place of moles are Rover, Spot, and Fido. A hammer is telekinetically moved in an attempt to whack the Dogs. The screen then pans up from its view of the playing field to the score board, which shows the show's logo in between the score of 23 and high score of 42. (4)

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP—S—F—R

Shortly after…

Pinkie provided a fishing rod, where Spike tied the gem to where a hook would usually be. Everyone was at the hole, Spike at its edge as he worked the reel while Twilight watched. Chronicle however then wondered why would ponies even fish. Then, as an image of Opalescence came to mind, he realized that the fish they catch is probably for fish-eaters like griffons, cats, etc.

"Spike, it is very noble of you—", his charge began.

"Shhh!"

She resumed in a lower tone. "—to sacrifice the gem Rarity gave you."

Spike began to smile dreamily. "Oh, Lady Rarity, my damsel in distress."

Chronicle looked up and imagined along with the dragon, implementing his memories of his own encounters with the Diamond Dogs.

_V—I—S—I—O—N—T—I—M—E_

_In the middle of a dungeon was Spike, but he was heavily muscled and most likely adult, though not by the standards or style of a regular dragon. He wore a red cape, armor plating on his arms and belt, black leggings with red boots, and had a lance on one hand._

_"Show yourselves, you dogs! You curs!", he called out. Three glowing-eyed, roaring silhouettes rose to face him. "Ah. There you are, you mangy mutts!"_

_The three Dogs stepped into the light and Rover retorted, "Who are you calling mutts?! Unleash the hounds!" He then pulled out a dog whistle and blew a blast so high-pitched as to be nearly inaudible. Behind them, three large canines clad in armor stepped forth with a loud growl. The chivalrous dragon did not stir a scale as these and many more began to barrel toward him in a howling, gibbering mass. _

_It took them nearly ten seconds to get to his end of the cavern, and when they did, that was when Spike made his move. He lifted his lance for a mighty strike, sending yelping dogs flying backward. He then got his tail swinging to knock a few others out, then began to flick the lance back and forth, effortlessly batting more away from above. As a fresh wave came at him, he casually let go with a blast of fire aimed straight at them; a last-second duck let them keep their heads but singed their tails to a crisp. A quick bit of side-to-side flamethrower action clears the place out in a hurry, he soon cornered Rover, Fido, and Spot to a wall, pointing his lance at them._

_"Now, where is Lady Rarity?", Spike demanded. Three paws pointed in unison, sending Spike into a run that ended with him smashing a cell door off its hinges. Here he found Rarity, standing in a single gold/blue/violet striped shaft of light and dressed in a fairy-tale princess outfit in these three colors; blue body, violet shoulders/chest, blue shoes and pointed cap, plenty of lace around the hem, gold trim. _

_"Spike!", she gasped happily. "I knew you would save me!"_

_"Nothing could stop me, my lady."_

_Her voice began to tremble a bit. "Oh, Spike, you are my hero." She batted her eyelashes at him and puckered up for a kiss. Spike leaned down and did likewise, the two faces inching ever closer to lip contact. _

_E—N—D—V—I—S—I—O—N—T—I—M—E_

The blue unicorn suddenly snapped out of the vision as he heard the puckering of lips, then saw the real Spike about to plant a big wet one on a very perturbed Applejack, who smiled once he realized that the dream is over.

"Ho-ho there, lover boy.", teased the farmpony.

_What the hay was that?_, Chronicle wondered as he completely shook off the strange vision.

Just then, something below the surface threatened to rip the fishing pole out of his hands. "Huh?" Spike tried to haul it in. "Whoa!", he gasped as he was dragged toward the hole. "Wh—whoa, whoa, whoa-whoa-whoa! I got a bite! I got a bite!"

Applejack grabbed his tail in her teeth. "Hold on there, little fella!" However, both of them were hauled down.

"Applejack!", Twilight gasped as she rushed in and got a mouthful of tail hair.

"Twilight!", Rainbow gasped as she does the same as the unicorn went goes down.

Fluttershy then moved in. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!"

She bit onto Rainbow's tail as the latter got yanked into the hole. Chronicle soon followed and grabbed her tail by the teeth as well, then cast a spell on his feet to try and keep himself steady. Pinkie then hoped merrily over to the site of this very weird tug-of-war.

"Wait for me!", she said as she her teeth then locked onto the short orange-yellow tail as they began to get pulled in.

He hated to admit it, but they were losing this tug as his feet were slowly dragged ever closer into the hole. His left foreleg gave out, then his right. Just before his hind legs and the rest of his body followed, he thought, _Why do I even bother?_, then got plunged in, taking Pinkie with him.

"YAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!", he hollered through his teeth. (5)

"Whee!", Pinkie whooped right behind.

Somewhere below the surface, the would-be angler and his six would-be rescuers were dragged screaming through a tunnel at ludicrous speed.

"Whee!", Pinkie continued to whoop as she then sat on Chronicle's back, laughing as the chain sailed out the end of this path, across a wide chasm, and neatly into a second tunnel on the other side.

Here, a vertical shaft cut into the floor of this passage sent them in a whole new direction, dropping them through it as they all crashed and ended up sprawled every which way in the dirt. Spike was the first to get up.

"Ha-ha! It worked! We're in!", he whooped. "Now we can finally save Rarity!"

The others began to peek up.

"Um…which way do we go?", Twilight asked.

Around them all, there was a myriad of tunnels that branched out from the walls and ceiling at all manner of strange angles. At this, Spike made an upraised, anguished face as he screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The magic specialist then turned to her bodyguard, "Chronicle, can you try and locate Rarity now?"

"Let me try." He pulled out his Surveillance and looked through it, but all he could see was static. "Nope. Apparently, I need clear skies for this to work. And no, despite being here before, I'm not familiar with these tunnels." He then began to walk forward in a certain direction and his friends silently followed. "However, I do have a spell that can pinpoint somepony's location. I just need something of theirs first. Do any of you have anything she owns or has made contact with physically or by telekinetic aura for the past day?"

"Teleki-what aura now?", Rainbow asked.

"Anything you see floating mid-air near a unicorn is held by a telekinetic aura."

"Ah." His friends then looked at each other, then turned to him and shook their heads.

"Well, there was that gem I used for bait, but it's gone now.", said Spike.

Chronicle gave a sigh. "All these tunnels…how are we ever gonna find Rarity?", his charge wondered as they all moved slowly ahead.

"Guess we're just gonna have to start goin' down them one by one.", Applejack guessed.

"That could take forever!", Rainbow complained. "There's gotta be a way to narrow it down."

Suddenly, Spike had an idea and lifted a finger. "I know! I bet they've taken Rarity down the tunnel with the most gems!"

"Well that's a start.", said Chronicle.

"But, Spike, Rarity's the only one who knows how to find gems.", Twilight reminded.

"No, Twilight, you can! You can copy Rarity's gem-finding spell!"

Something dawned on her in an instant. "Oh my gosh. You're right! Rarity showed me how she did it a while back! If I can just remember…"

After a bit of very hard concentration, her horn threw off a quick burst and then glowed steadily. Across the nearest stretch of tunnels, images of buried jewels winked into view on the walls and floors.

_Okay, this is different from Rarity's spell. Hers is only visible to her and acts like a dowsing rod. I can see the gems too in Twilight's version._

"That's it.", gasped Spike. Apparently, everybody else could see it too. You did it, Twilight! Come on!" He jumped on her back, and she reared up and led the others in a charge. "We're coming, Rarity! We'll save you! Just hold on!"

As they ran, Chronicle quickly came to the front and drew his "magic horn blade". "We gotta be careful. No doubt the Diamond Dogs may come around to attack us now that we're in their territory."

"You seem to know quite a bit about these Dogs.", remarked Applejack. "Care to tell us more?"

"Sorry, but it's been quite some time since I last encountered them. Other than what I've told you before we fell down, my memory on them is still a bit fuzzy."

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP

A few minutes after…

As the group continued to run, as they reached a 'room' similar to the one they ended up in, they stopped in confusion as Twilight's gem-finding spell suddenly failed to provide them a good answer. An equal number of gems lined three tunnels and they now had no idea which one to take.

"Now what do we do?", Pinkie asked.

"Wait.", Chronicle said as he sheathed his "blade" and turned his gaze on a tunnel not lined with as much gems as the three paths. "Something's coming this way. Hide. I got a plan." They all retreated back into the tunnel as the shadow of the figure became larger. "What I'm about to do next may be morally questionable for all of you, so I advise you all not to interrupt me until after I do what I'm going to do." They turned to each other, then nodded.

It didn't take long for a Dig Dog to emerge into view. Immediately, he charged forward, and headbutted the Dig Dog (making a slight dent in the canine's armor thanks to his own horn, though it hurt quite a bit), sending him to a wall. Before the Dig Dog could make another move, he was pinned in place when Chronicle drew his "magic horn blade" and pointed it up to his neck.

The Dig Dog was about to speak, most likely a distress call when Chronicle shoved his "blade" up close to the canine's throat. "I wouldn't move if I were you.", he warned. "If you do, this pointy end will enter your neck, and I believe even you know what will happen."

The Dig Dog struggled at first, but when the "blade"'s tip poked his neck, he stopped, nodded, then asked, "What does little pony want?"

"What I want is to know where a friend of mine is. She's a pony like me, and has a horn, but she's white, and her mane is purple. Now tell me where she's being held. And take off your helmet so I can tell you're being honest." He didn't want his friends involved since they may question his actions, even though Applejack (the spirit of Honesty) or Rainbow (who was not bad at finding lies herself) could help him.

The Dig Dog did as was directed, revealing eyes similar to Spot's. He then pointed to one of the three tunnels.

After verifying that he was truthful, Chronicle said, "Thank you.", then quickly 'took out' his frying pan from "hammerspace" and smacked the Dig Dog on the head, knocking him out cold. He gestured to the others to where the Dig Dog indicated, then they all moved along, but not before Pinkie conspicuously left a "Sorry" cake.

Everybody was silent for a while as Twilight continued to lead the rest of the way. Noticing it, Chronicle said, "I'm done with what I did."

Unsurprisingly for him, Fluttershy was the first to speak up. "How could you do such a thing?"

"You mean make a death threat? I'm sorry you had to see that, but we're running short on time and when that happens I can't resort to niceties. Besides, it was a bluff." That sentence was a lie. He gave a sigh. "I'm not sorry for what I did, only that you had to see me do it. Now let's keep moving."

C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—RD—F—PP

About half an hour later…

The party continued down a tunnel, led by the images of embedded jewels that were a result of Twilight's spell. So far, they have not been attacked by any more Dig Dogs.

"We're getting close. I can feel it.", Twilight said. Just then, the sound of Rarity's sobbing drifted into earshot.

Spike pointed ahead. "It's coming from down here! Come on!"

Everypony hit the brakes, finding no unicorn but hearing her through the rock wall to their left. "She must be in there! Let's go!", Rainbow said.

Before they could shift directions, six of the Dogs' front-line grunts got the drop on them, one per pony. _They got the jump on me?!_, Chronicle 'gasped' in shock.

The one on Fluttershy's back said, "More workhorses! ", then slapped a rope bridle on her snout. Everypoy else got the same treatment. Just as the one on Chronicle did his part, this was the last straw for him. "I've had just enough of you sons of b████es!", he said. (6)

"Ho, doggies.", said Applejack. "If you can take this bull by the horns, you better be ready for a ride!" She began to leaping and buck. "Come on, ponies! Kick 'em up, kick 'em out! Buck 'em up, buck 'em down!"

Everpony followed her example as the canines get a very rough ride indeed, getting slung out of the saddle in short order and sent into a retreat.

"Yee-haa! Get along, little doggies!", the farmpony called. However, the Dig Dogs grumbled, turned around, barked, then charged again.

In response, Chronicle drew his "magic horn blade" and swung it in a threatening manner, then charged. He engaged one of the Dig Dogs, while the others bypassed him and went for the others, who scrambled. One of those dogs had missed and struck a rock wall hard. For the Dig Dog he engaged, the canine brought up a paw and swung down. The unicorn deftly dodged the blow, then initiated a slashing combo on the Dig Dog with his "blade", finishing with a move that ended with him past the Dig Dog.

Conventionally, there would have been plenty of cuts on the Dig Dog and would probably be in pieces, but his "horn blade" had another property; if he willed it, he can make it phase through anything he wishes and leave a stinging feeling. The Dig Dog had experienced the pain he would've experienced if Chronicle had really slashed him, but without the wounds.

As the Dig Dog crumpled to the ground in pain, he turned to the next one, doing a downward slash on one that threatened to pounce on his charge even as Spike prepared to breathe fire. He then turned and shot a flurry of 'shurikens' on another that was trying to get its paws on a bouncing Pinkie. Following that, he went after another that was running straight for Rainbow, who was about to deliver a karate kick. Just as the pegasus's hoof connected, his "blade" did too—which he willed not to skewer the canine—and both attacks hit to their left and the Dig Dog spun from the force. Chronicle promptly went off to look for another Dig Dog, leaving the one just beat up to Rainbow.

He found Applejack knock back her opponent with a kick, then do another decisive attack, knocking him out cold. Seeing she was capable of handling herself, he then turned his attention to Fluttershy…who was staring at 'her' Dig Dog—the one who had first bumped into the wall—who in turn was whimpering in a corner. _Huh? Is this what Mystic Shield meant by not being "able to look her in the eye for a long while"?_

He shook off the thought, then told the others to round them all up. Using the ropes the Dig Dogs used as bridles (save the one on his charge for some reason), Rainbow and Applejack tied them all up, then Twilight tightened the ropes with a knot she learned from a book on knots (well, about sea sailing). Pinkie gave a smile and a small cheer, then turned around and gave Applejack and Chronicle a mock salute. The farmpony gave a tip of her hat to the crazy pink pony and the bodyguard nodded in turn.

Chronicle gave a sigh of relief, his stress finally leaving him thanks to this little fight. "That wraps it up." Pinkie gave a laugh from getting the pun. Just then, there came a clattering from behind a barred door to one side, the same place where they heard the "distress cry".

Breaking a stalactite loose from the ceiling, Spike brandished it as a lance. "I'm coming for you, my lady!", he cried out. "Hi-ho, Twilight, away!"

This "Lone Ranger" bit got him nowhere but did earn him a dirty look from the "noble steed". "And just what do you think you're doing?", Twilight asked.

"Please, Twilight. Just give me this?"

She gave a loud groan. "Fine." She then reared up with a neigh and charged ahead, followed by the others. The door was reduced to scrap metal in an instant—not from the charge but from a few 'shurikens' from Chronicle—and she stopped along with the rest.

"Lady Rarity, I'm here to save you!"

And then everybody's eyes popped in surprise as Spot, Rover, and Fido run to them, shouting a babel of pleas and importunings. They all wound up huddled in front of all six ponies and the little dragon knight, then their irises shrunk at the sight of the stallion.

"We meet again.", Chronicle gave a sneer.

"Excuse me?", his charge said as he saw Rarity approach from behind, serenely pulling a cart.

"So picky!", said Spot.

"And critical!", added Fido.

"She won't stop talking!"

"And crying!"

"We, uh…give her back! Yes!", Rover pleaded as Spike jumped down and hugged his "beloved".

"Rarity! You're safe!", he said.

"Why, yes. Hello, girls, boys. You arrived just in time to assist me."

"Assist you with what?", Applejack wanted to know.

Rarity looked over her shoulder. "With those." Everyone else turned to see at least a half-dozen enormous carts parked down the way, each piled with jewels to at least twice its height. None of the rescuers can believe their eyes.

"You're letting her leave?", Spike asked. "With all these…" His eyes widened greedily. "…jewels?"

"Yes!", confirmed Rover. "Take them, and her with them!"

"Please!", pleaded Spot.

A knowing look passed between Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. However, Chronicle began to feel pity for them for some reason, especially after seeing the trio sigh and whimper over their loss. "Hmm…"

Fluttershy noticed this as they all took a cart each and began to walk away. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah. I don't think we need all of this." He removed the harness on him and pushed it until it began to wheel itself toward the Diamond Dogs. He then summoned a magical clone to accompany it as he moved to the front of the line, quickly now that he no longer had a cart, 'took out' Mystic Shield's ascot, and cast his pinpointing spell on it. "Girls, I know the way home. Follow me."

As they did, Twilight had a question as she 'removed' her bridle. "Hey, is that—"

"Mystic Shield's ascot, yes. I'm using the spell to find him, who would most likely be at Ponyville."

"Why did you decide to leave a cart full of gems behind for the Diamond Dogs?", asked Rarity.

"I don't know what happened between you and them, but those whimpering faces tell me that while they probably deserved it, they should at least keep a small percentage. Also, what if they decide to take revenge on you someday? That's why I left it and a clone behind to dissuade that thought and teach them what to do in case they end up encountering gem-finders like you again."

"And what is your clone probably teaching them?"

"How to make a deal. Both sides could be satisfied if the Dogs offered a percentage of the gems the finder locates and they dig up. And that they treat them nicely. Violence and non-violence have their place in solving the problems at hoof. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it will stick, given how…dim I know the Diamond Dogs are." He then decided to change the subject. "By the way, what **did** happen back there? Tell us everything. Entertain us."

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—F—R

Later…

By the time Rarrity was done with her story, the party was back at the rocky woodland where it all began.

"I can't believe you found all these gems!", said Pinkie once their not-rescuee was finished.

"Heh. I can't believe you tricked all those Dogs!", Rainbow remarked.

Just because I'm a lady, doesn't mean I cannot handle myself in a sticky situation.", Rarity told them. "I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time."

"For some reason, I knew you weren't completely helpless.", said Chronicle. "After all, you were the first to attack the manticore when we first encountered it."

"And I can't believe you still remember **that**."

"I can't wait to write to Princess Celestia to tell her what you taught me today.", Twilight said.

The white unicorn was surprised at this. "Me? What did I teach you?"

"Just because somepony is ladylike, doesn't make her weak. In fact, by using her wits, a seemingly defenseless pony can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all."

Riding on Rarity's cart, Spike was eating a gem. "Mmm…"outshines" is right.", he said with his mouth full. "Now you have enough gems to cover Sapphire Shores's costumes."

Rarity whisked a half-eaten stone from his hand and teeth with a smile. "Not if you eat them all, Spike."

Everypony laughed at that, then Chronicle said, "I still think it's a good thing we went to find you. Although I believe you would've just 'convinced' them to show you the way out, am I right?"

"Why yes, I had that in mind before your convenient arrival."

"At least we managed to find out more about you. But, you know, while everypony thought you were a helpless damsel in distress, I knew you were at least capable of taking care of yourself. However, learning that you were also witty enough to do this is new to me as well. Come to think of it, if you weren't in the dressmaking business, I'd say you'd make an excellent spy." (7)

This compliment caught everybody else off guard, Rarity most of all. "Are you serious about that?", she asked.

He gave a teasing smile. "Maybe. Let's pick up the pace, girls. Or else we'll slowly lose our 'earnings' to Spike's stomach."

"Hey!", the dragon retorted. Everypony laughed shortly after as Ponyville grew ever closer in the distance.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) I realize this dreamscape bit has no plot advancement whatsoever for the chapter, except perhaps to show Chronicle's soft side, not that he lacks one. Also as a note to the continuity of the Lunaverse's (which I have explained in an earlier chapter) future crossover with the canon 'verse called "Crisis on Two Equestrias".  
(2) This strange feeling (as well as the eye sore) is another sign of Chronicle's…something that resulted from his indirect exposure to the Elements of Harmony.  
(3) This flashback and others is to serve as filler and for how Chronicle knows the Diamond Dogs. Banana Fluff is an actual pony in the show just like Graphite and Mjölna.  
(4) Only one eyecatch for this episode and it's not placed in where the break usually is? Well, given that I'm skipping a lot of the original episode…  
(5) Sorry, couldn't resist putting in the Goofy holler.  
(6) Yeah, in spite of being for Everyone, I just can't resist putting up a censor that can technically not be one given the nature of who he's referring to.  
(7) That last part is a nudge to the _Team Fortress 2_. Seriously, apart from a sense of style, there has to be more reasons as to why Rarity is portrayed as the Spy apart from not fitting in any of the other classes, IMO.

I realize that this chapter could have shortest of all my chapters so far were it not for the flashback filler. And then I realized it's because the episode was Rarity-centric, and since this fic is mostly in Chronicle's POV, the majority of what the episode is is removed. Sorry about that. See ya on Third!


	19. Chapter 22: A BIrd in the Hoof

nightelf37: _Pagkatotoo. Kabutihan. Pagsasaya. Pagkamapagkaloob. Katapatan. Salamangka._ …Now I see why there isn't a Filipino dub of _My Little Pony Friendship is Magic_.

Pinkie Pie: Why?

nightelf37: I realized that it's difficult to translate the various virtues the Elements of Harmony are. _Katapatan_ means loyalty, but it can also mean honesty. See where I'm going here?

Pinkie: Yeah. No wonder some fans think Applejack and Rainbow Dash should switch elements.

nightelf37: True. Someone theorized that the Elements don't represent the bearer's strength, but what they **value most** about friendship. I'd provide a link for more on that theory, but this site doesn't allow them.

Pinkie: Aww…

nightelf37: _Salamangka_ can mean not only magic, but hoax, trick, or sleight-of-hand (or hoof in a pony's case). Harmony can be translated to _pagkakatugma, pagkakasundo_, or _pagkakaisa_. And element can be translated to _salik, bahagi, sangkap_, or _elemento_.

Pinkie: The last one sounds a bit like Spanish.

nightelf37: That's because the Filipino language is derived from that language. It's in their history. If you want to know more, use your fourth-wall abilities to look it up.

Pinkie: All right.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: My originally designed OCs (i.e. not Graphite, Tasty Snack or her sister; all the other OC stand-ins that are the popular background ponies), and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper. And that's right. I'm a Philippine brony.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**(WCDDtEo) Chapter 22: A Bird in the Hoof**

In the dreamscape…

Chronicle was trying to get back to meditation when he sensed two newcomers, having practiced it ever since Cousin Ginger Cloud and Uncle Clockwork. Upon turning around in anticipation to greet them, he saw that not only were they two, they were also very familiar to him. One was trotting and the other was bouncing.

_Wh-wh-what?!_ He should've figured they would've someday found their way here. Pinkie Pie had some very strange abilities that his sister called Toon Traits, which probably included dream-intruding. And Twilight Sparkle probably discovered a spell that can do the same. But what was uncanny was that they were heading to him together.

He retained his state of shock until the two of them were now up to his face. And then when they turned to show their flanks, he saw—instead of a trio of balloons and a six-point star with five stars around it—cutie marks identical to his own. Also, "Pinkie"'s mane was an afro and her tail was like a poodle's, not to mention she looked older too. As for "Twilight", her coat and hair colors were switched though the streaks remained the same.

"Little Timmy! How nice to see you!", "Pinkie" greeted in a voice that was definitely not hers, but was still vaguely familiar. "I'm guessing you thought we were your friends, huh?"

Chronicle was still speechless. She was right. "Twilight" then spoke up in a teasing manner, "Looks like he's just surprised to see his favorite aunt and her daughter."

_Aunt? Now I know!_ The stallion's irises shrunk upon realizing who it was. "Aunt Fanny?!"

The pink earth pony giggled at this. "Oh, Timmy! I almost thought you forgot. And after I gave you and your siblings your walking lessons too."

"Right. And your alias in the Equestria you're on is Fuchsia, right?"

"That's correct. Pinkie Pie Equestria is full of pink as far as the eye can see. Of course, there are also male versions of her and the Princess is also a Pinkie Pie."

"I imagine life's simple compared to mine?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that. But enough about me, come greet your cousin here.", Fuchsia then indicated "Twilight" and Chronicle turned to face her.

"Um, hi."

"Hello, Timmy. Or maybe it's better to call you Chronicle.", the other unicorn greeted. "I'm Cathy, and my pony alias is Nightfall Twinkle."

Chronicle could only smack himself in the face as he said, "And which Equestria are you from?"

"Dusk Harem Equestria, where Dusk Shine is the student of Princess Celestia."

"So it's like my Equestria, but replace Twilight Sparkle with her male counterpart from Solaris Equestria."

"Not exactly.", put in Fuchsia. "Given the nature of the 'gender swap' in respect to your Equestria, the other five Keepers have romantic feelings for Dusk for some reason."

"And I'd like to wake up soon.", interrupted Nightfall. "I want to get back to making love with Dusk. I know it's a friendly competition, but still—"

"I get it, I get it.", Chronicle cut her off, getting uneasy on the harem implications as she turned away and began to murmur dreamily.

Fuchsia approached her nephew and whispered, "I pity the poor girl. She doesn't take rejection well, and from my visits with her all she can think of is Disk Shine and keeping him safe, especially after it turns out Nightmare Moon—and by extension Princess Luna—is also into him and so is Trixie, who has become a live-in student."

"Ouch. I bet Solaris Equestria's Dusk Shine would be both grateful and jealous if he heard of that."

"I haven't went to your sister yet, I should probably go soon."

"And I don't even wanna know if there's a Twilight Harem Equestria."

"As a matter of fact—"

Chronicle quickly stuffed both of his hooves into his aunt's mouth. "I told you I don't wanna know!" Fuchsia nodded as he put his hooves down. "I hope you can convince her to be a "harem nanny" instead, it could help. Anyway, curious question. What're Nightfall's abilities in combat? Just in case I decide to ask her—"

"On a date?", Nightfall shoved Fuchsia away, looking infuriated.

"To spar with me. You know I don't do kissing cousins. The only relationship I wish to be in is a conventional male-to-female one. No gays, no lesbians, no family incest, all right?"

"Okay. As for your question on my abilities, anything Dusk can do I can do too, and I also take after Aunt Jenny." Aunt Jenny was Chronicle's mother.

"Ah." Jenny's combat style centered around casting spells of various (classical) elements (fire, water, air, earth, lightning, ice, etc). and is dubbed by others in the Story Crew as a "Black Mage", which he figured was slang for "caster of offense magic and dabbling in 'status effects'.".

"I want to leave now, do I'm gonna try a new spell of mine on you." Nightfall's horn flared in an aura similar to Twilight's. "I'm not sure how it works in the dreamscape, but if it works…" Before he or Fuchsia could stop her, she let loose a blast of light at him.

C—NT—F—C—NT—F—C—NT—F—C—NT—F

In the Golden Oaks Library…

Chronicle woke up with a start and stumbled out of his bed with a thump. The resulting crash jolted him to his senses. "Oww! I'm so getting back at her for that.", he grunted as he got up. When he looked around, he found that the room was clean and neither Twilight Sparkle nor Spike could be seen.

_Wha…_, he wondered as he took out something from "hammerspace". It was a white glove that seemed to be meant for Spike, but was filled out with an unknown substance that made it very easy for him to manipulate in nearly every position a hand can do. This was the gift Pinkie Pie gave him during Mystic Shield's (and Gilda's) welcome party. He 'stretched' a finger from this "hand" and had it 'tap' his head as he started to ponder.

_What's the occasion today? What could be happening today that Spike and Twilight would leave me to sleep? Something so urgent they had to leave and managed to forget me? Did they think I needed a break? Did they think I would be able to catch up with them in my own time? …Wait a second. I remember now! It's Princess Celestia's second visit to Ponyville!_ He turned to the clock. _And I'm late!_ Instantly, he stowed his "white hand", went to Twilight's vanity set, used a comb there to quickly get rid of his bedhead, then teleported out of the room and into his "training range".

"I hope I can still get in.", he muttered to himself as he tried to remember where the visit was taking place, then recalled it. _Right! She's at Sugarcube Corner for the big brunch!_ He failed to watch where he was going and collided with somepony, knocking him back a bit. "Oww…"

"I'm so sorry.", a familiar voice came.

"Me too…", he replied as he opened his eyes to see— "Fluttershy?!"

Indeed it was her and she reacted similarly. "Chronicle?!"

"Hi. You headed for Sugarcube Corner?" He didn't wait for an answer and quickly helped her up. "Let's go!"

Half a minute later, they located the bakery (and Rainbow Dash pulling faces on the pegasus guards at the door in an attempt to make them laugh), and they started to run there. Right after they saw their polychromatic-maned friend zip back inside, they reached the entrance, pausing to catch their breath. as the only unicorn in the area looked up to see that that their expressions (and presumably guarding behavior) were comparable to the "British Royal Guards".

"Phew! Made it!", said Fluttershy. But just as she headed for the door with Chronicle, each guard put out one wing, crossing them to block the entrance, eliciting a gasp from her.

"Halt!", said one of the guards.

"Who goes there?", demanded the other.

Fluttershy gulped and backed off. "No one. Never mind. I'll go home."

Chronicle however wasn't having any of this. He stepped forward and answered. "Chronicle. Bodyguard of Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and Spirit of Magic. With me is Fluttershy, Spirit of Kindness."

Just at that moment, he saw his charge and Pinkie Pie walk past behind the door. Only the former stopped and caught sight of the two at the entrance.

"It's all right, sirs.", she declared. "They're on the list."

The wings were folded away and Fluttershy gave a grateful smile as she and Chronicle entered. Indeed, the bakery's shop floor had been set up for a party, with treats, presents, and decorations.

"Thanks, Twilight.", said the yellow pegasus.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Fluttershy. It wouldn't be the same without you."

"Could you give me a reason why you didn't wake me up?", Chronicle asked his charge sternly.

"Sorry. I really wanted to be first to greet the Princess, and Spike was needed to help the Cakes in making the treats."

"Okay. You should've tried harder, though. And wait a second, there was a guest list? That doesn't make sense given the visitors." He saw nearly every Ponyvillian he could identify by name, even seeing Mystic Shield at a corner, and not all of them were familiar to his charge.

"The list covers everypony in Ponyville. Also…" She leaned over to his ear and whispered something. He then nodded his head in understanding as he pulled away.

In the crowded shop floor, Mr. Cake can be seen balancing a tray of browned tarts on his head as he navigated the room. "How's everypony doing? Good? Good.", he was saying.

Mrs. Cake was bringing a tray of cupcakes to Celestia, who sat at a long table near the back. A few other ponies sat there as well, among them he identified as Golden Harvest, who wore a flower in her hair and a fancy saddle on her back. "Anything else we can get for you, dearie?", the baker said before catching herself with a yelp. "I-I mean, esteemed guests?" Mr. Cake joined her shortly.

"Everything is fine, Mr. and Mrs. Cake.", Celestia replied. Her relaxed demeanor contrasted sharply with the couple's sudden uptight affect.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the two late arrivals crossed the floor, the former glancing nervously about with a fixed grin on her face.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to finish taking care of a patient first.", Fluttershy said.

"And **I** was late because **somepony** decided not to bother waking me up.", snarked Chronicle. "I know I'm a deep sleeper, but…"

Twilight ignored him and answered, "Oh, you and your tender loving care of little animals. I just know Princess Celestia's gonna love that about you." She began to sweat heavily. "I mean, I hope she will, I mean, of course she will." Her bodyguard just rolled his eyes at this.

"Wow, Twilight.", the pegasus replied. "I thought I was the only one who got nervous at social gatherings."

"Oh, it's not that." All three stopped. "I just want the Princess to approve of my friends."

"But she's met us all before." The three started off again.

"And read about you in my letters. But this is the first time she's spent any real time with you. I want everypony to make a good impression."

"Well, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Besides, it's just a casual get-together, right?"

"Don't touch me!", a voice came. The three turned to see Rarity decked out in her self-designed dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. Shoeshine, Cherry Berry, and Parasol were distancing themselves from her. "Watch the dress!" Lemon Hearts, carrying a cup of tea in her teeth, nearly approached her. "Careful, you're gonna spill that on me!" Lemon turned away from her and walked off as Mrs. Cake brought a tray of cupcakes to Rarity. "Ooh, ooh, that looks delicious! What is it?" She then suddenly became unhinged. "Oh! Does it stain? Keep it away from me!" She then cowered on the floor.

"Or perhaps not that casual."

"Some ponies just can't comprehend going casual with the Princess, who seems to **want** this to be casual.", Chronicle said as they turned to see Applejack at a table loaded with savories of all types, most of which look to be made from Sweet Apple Acres' produce. She had removed her hat and tied a napkin around her neck, but so far her nerves had kept her from eating a bite.

"Uh, which is the salad and which is the appetizer again?", she said to herself, sweating in nervousness. And which am I supposed to eat first?" She leaned toward a salad, then a sandwich (which had a slice of something red), then a fritter, then gave up and pushed the food away. "Aw, never mind. I'm not hungry."

While his friends watched this display of gluttony's polar opposite, alarms began to ring in Chronicle's head as he flash-stepped to the table, 'snatched' the sandwich that had what he suspected to be meat, which he assumed was not safe for ponies, then flash-stepped back.

"It's okay, Twilight.", Fluttershy assured her friend. So our friends' manners aren't perfect. I doubt the Princess will even notice."

"Or maybe she does, but is okay with it.", the unicorn stallion said as he investigated the sandwich. _I sure hope this isn't what I think it is._

Meanwhile, Pinkie's gleeful, giggly bounds across the room put the lie to Fluttershy's assertion. "Woo-hoo! Cupcakes, candies, and pies, oh my!" She leaped past tables loaded with the first two treats in time with her words, then picked up a pie and smacked herself in the side of the head with it. She then went to a chocolate fountain on a table, with assorted fruits laid around it for dipping, putting her head up from behind it with a quivery moan. "Chocolate fountain-y goodness!" She shoved her entire head into the flow for a moment, let the chocolate harden, then ate as much of it as she can as the flakes crumbled away to leave her face clean of pie residue.

At the seat of honor, Celestia levitated a cupcake and was about to bite down before the hyperactive pink pony zipped up to her along the table. "You gonna eat that?" Without waiting for an answer, she chomped the whole thing out of the air, scattering a few dishes but not perturbing Celestia much, if at all. The Cakes, on the other hoof, get a real scare—he recoiling, she gasping in horror (like Pinkie during his first encounter with her) —and Mrs. Cake dashed over to grab Pinkie's tail in her teeth and yank her away. "Hey!"

Just as quickly, Mr. Cake rushed in, with a fresh cupcake and teacup on a tray in his teeth, and served the ruler. "A thousand pardons, Your Majesty.", he said as he backed off.

"That's quite all right. Thank you."

This time, she successfully levitated both items, took a bite, and sipped her tea without interruption. The moment her empty cup clinked back down onto its saucer, both Cakes sprung into action.

"Empty teacup at four o'clock!", cried out Mrs. Cake.

"I see it, honey bun!", Mr. Cake replied as he swiftly refilled it.

"Oh! Um…thank you.", said Celestia.

"Not at all, Your Highness."

The regal pony's next sip brought Mrs. Cake galloping with a teapot of her own to refill. "Thank you again."

"Oh, but of course, Your Majesty."

This sequence repeated itself twice more, with first the stallion and then the mare topping off the cup. After a quick sidewise glance, she levitated it again but only **pretended** to take a sip. When Mr. Cake instinctively leaned in with the pot, the tea slopped over the brim. "Gotcha!"

The bakery owners smiled sheepishly at having fallen for this joke. At one end of the table behind them sat the three, with Chronicle still checking out the sandwich's red something. Twilight sank down with a scared little moan, while the sole pegasus in the group stared intently past her.

"And what about you, dear?", Celestia called as she turned to face them, ignoring the stallion's scrutiny on the food item. "Fluttershy, is it?"

"Me? Oh, yes, Your Highness."

"I understand from Twilight Sparkle's letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures."

"Yes, I love to take care of animals."

"As do I."

Taking a break from the 'investigation', Chronicle 'put down' the sandwich and turned to look at the Princess, and saw Applejack farther down the table. He also saw a gold birdcage that seemed to stand empty next to Celestia. "As Princess, I care deeply about all creatures great and small."

The cage surprised the ponies surrounding its owner by emitting a choking cough and a spurt of feathers seemingly from nowhere then repeated. Zoom in as it repeated the performance. "Nothing means more to me than the well-being of all my subjects."

More feathers went flying as the source made its presence known: a very sickly, emaciated pink bird that rose up from the cage's deep bottom to land on the perch. It had been merely hiding out of sight. The head wobbled and drooped, and one pale blue eye was slightly bugged out compared to the other one.

"Ah! Philomena, my pet!" Celestia leaned in close. "You're awake. Do say hello to our gracious hosts."

The bird responded by shedding a few more feathers, coughing in innovative ways, and twisting her head around to stare up at the ceiling. Fluttershy was slightly horrified and hunkered down. "Oh…my."

"She is quite a sight, isn't she?"

_For sore eyes, maybe._

"I…I…I've never seen anything like it."

As the bird gave a cough, Chronicle decided to ask the Princess. "Umm, Your Majesty?"

"Yes?"

"About…this thing…" He showed the sandwich to her. "Is this safe for ponies to eat?" He then showed what suspected was meat.

Celestia took a good look, then said, "Well, while meat can be digested by ponies, it isn't encouraged and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. I remember one time I visited the Griffin Kingdom—" Before she could continue, a guard approached to whisper directly into her ear. "Really?" The guard nodded. "Well, if I must." At this point, Rarity joined Fluttershy at one end of the table. "I'm sorry, everypony. I'm afraid I have to cut the party short." Her faithful student nearly choked on/spit out her mouthful of tea she was drinking. "The Mayor has requested an audience with me. Royal duty calls. Thank you for a wonderful time. It's been a joy getting to know you all better."

She made her stately exit, followed by the guard, as the crowd of guests bowed her out of Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy's (and Chronicle's) attention, however, was fixed on the raggedy Philomena, whose eyes squeaked audibly when she blinked them.

As for Applejack… "Phew! Now I can eat somethin'! I'm starved!" Before she could dig in, Mr. Cake walked across, grabbing one corner of the tablecloth in his teeth and bundling every last item up into it. The hungry pony stared sadly at the now-cleared table and moaned. Across the room, the orderly exit of guests was broken up by Pinkie turning cartwheels toward the door; laughing and whooping, knocking a couple of them through it in the process.

"Stay right where you are.", Rarity said menacingly as she backed up toward the door like she had a hostage with her. "All I want is a clear path to the exit. Nobody move, and my dress won't get hurt! Stay back! Back, I say!"

Thankfully for Applejack, she managed to salvage a sizable stack of leftovers and was balanced precisely on Applejack's nose as she too left the premises, hat back on and napkin still tied, and licking her chops at the idea of finally being able to get a decent meal. Twilight and Spike (and a few others) were left alone on the shop floor, the dragon still wearing his chef's hat and apron.

Twilight gave a sigh. "Well, Spike, I don't know for sure how things went with the Princess, but at least no big disasters happened."

Little did they know that Philomena's cage was now really empty except for a few loose feathers and with its door standing open.

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—MCC—MCC

Eyecatch (video-type)

{Six cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: a trio of brilliant-cut diamonds, a trio of stars, a trio of tornadoes, a sun behind a white cloud, a pair of linked horseshoes, and a pair of cherries.}

{The six cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting two rows of six ponies. The top depicts (from left to right) Shoeshine, Twinkle, and Dizzy Twister. The bottom row depicts Cheery Berry, Amethyst Star, and Cloud Kicker. The show's logo shows up on the bottom right.}

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—MCC—MCC

At Fluttershy's cottage…

The owner of the place opened the door as she went in, carrying the distressed bird on her back. Chronicle followed her, looking a bit unsure as he glanced upon a pet-sized bed sitting in one corner of the room.

"Oh, you poor little thing!", said the animal caretaker. "How did you ever get in such bad condition?" Fluttershy set Philomena on the couch. "Don't you worry, Philomena." The bird's head flopped onto the cushions. "I'll nurse you back to health as a favor to the Princess, who's obviously just far too busy to care for you properly." Out came a hacking cough/feather-shed combo that left the pet's neck bent double again, putting Fluttershy at a moment's loss. "I'm sure the Princess will appreciate the help." She lifted the head back up, only for another spasm to send it bending over backwards. "Oh, my!" The bird was picked up. "I'd better get you to bed right away."

As she moved Philomena to the bed and placed the bird there and covered her with a blanket, Chronicle spoke up. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

He was ignored as she settled the bird down. "There."

Picking up a thermometer in her mouth, Fluttershy slipped into the patient's beak. A second later, the mercury shot up and Philomena went beet-red from overheating, sweat and steam pouring from her head. Fluttershy gasped, yanked the blanket away, and set an ice pack on the boiling-hot skull. The temperature quickly drops in response, but now Philomena gets a case of the shivers and goes ice-blue, her pupils turning to ice cubes as well.

There was another gasp from Fluttershy as Chronicle smacked himself in the face again; the ice pack was removed and the blanket replaced, causing her to boil over again. _What the hay?_ The two are switched time after time in an increasing tempo, the thermometer cycling faster and faster until its bulb shattered. Fluttershy's ministrations ended with the blanket on and the ice pack off. Alarms rang in the unicorn's head. _Is she what I think she is?_

"This is far worse than I thought. What you need is some medicine—stat!"

Philomena gave a cough that sent the remains of the thermometer flying past their heads. _Oww, I didn't know she can affect mercury like that so quickly._

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Later…

A saucer with a very large capsule was placed on the table.

"Here you go, Philomena. This will fix you right up.", Fluttershy said. Philomena gave it a cautious sniff and made a sound of disgust, letting her tongue hang out of her beak. She perched on the end of the couch now, facing Fluttershy across a small table, who sat on the chair there. Chronicle stood beside her. "Dr. Fluttershy expected that." Grabbing a bag of birdseed, she dumped enough onto the saucer to completely bury the capsule. Now, after a cautious lick, Philomena attacked the food with gusto, digging down into it like a jackhammer. The pegasus gave a smug expression to her friend. "Always works."

Chronicle gave a snide look (not to mention 'snapping' this picture via Surveillance) and said, "Oh really?" They both glanced back and the pegasus quickly changed gears with a surprised little gasp; on the saucer, the birdseed was gone but the medicine remained untouched.

"Almost always."

"Right." The decrepit thing coughed and dropped a few more feathers onto the table. "Maybe it's in the diet. You know that some birds are…" He gulped on the subject. "Carnivores, right?" To his surprise, she seemed to take it well as she nodded her head. "Okay. Maybe this will help." He opened his "hammerspace", 'took out' the sandwich he had been investigating during the brunch, 'removed' the confirmed meat from it, and 'wrapped' it around the pill. "There. Hopefully she will eat it now. Although I wonder why such a sandwich was there in Sugarcube Corner in the first place." _Wait. How do I know Philomena's a female? Oh right, Celestia addressed her as a 'she'._

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Fortunately, Philomena consumed the pill with the meat, but it didn't help her condition if not make it worse.

Plan B consisted of a bowl of hot soup, which now stood on the carpet. Fluttershy leaned down to blow on it, then pushed it across to Philomena, who was down on the floor as well and with her back to the fireplace (or was it a stove?).

"There's nothing like homemade soup to cure what ails you." After a skeptical look, Philomena turned her head away petulantly. "Come on now. You're not gonna get better if you don't cooperate. Fluttershy pretended to sip the soup. "Mmmmm, see? It's delicious. Good and good for you." It was still a no go as the bird folded her stubby wings, so the aspiring veterinarian picked up the bowl. "Here comes the choo-choo train. Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga, woo-woo!"

Her attempts to present the meal from different angles caused the bird to twist her head around so many times that her neck ended up kinked like an over-wound clock spring. Eventually, she popped into the air, her body spinning to unwind the neck, and pitched face first into the bowl, which was set down after the last failed attempt.

"Oh, dear!" She lifted Philomena's head. "Don't worry, Philomena. I know what'll make you feel better. Wait right here." She then trotted away. "I have just the thing."

As the forlorn cranium crashed back into the soup, Chronicle just gave a sigh. _Now where have I seen her kind before?_ He tapped his head with his hoof and got down on his rump. _Think, think, think. Oh great, now I'm acting like that yellow stuffed bear I used to read about as a child._

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan C…

While Philomena was nibbling a few pellets from a leaking bag of mouse food by the fireplace/stove.

"Look, Philomena!", Fluttershy called as she returned with a hummingbird perched on one raised foreleg. "I brought a fellow feathered friend by to cheer you up. Hummingway here was sick once too, but he let me help him and got better in no time." She nuzzled his cheek. "Didn't you, boy?"

Hummingway made a tiny "mmm-hmm" sound and nodded in agreement. He then landed by Philomena, who had gone back to eating the mouse chow.

"Say hello to your new friend Philomena."

The little bird jumped onto Philomena's back and nuzzled against her neck, humming a welcome.

"Aw, look." Hummingway then flew across the room. "I think he likes you."

The little avian met Fluttershy in midair; she vocalized a few familiar notes Chronicle remembered to be a tune his mother used to hum to herself. Hummingway he responded with the next five. Chronicle found himself vocalizing the second line of the jingle, earning looks from the two.

Fluttershy then turned to the sick bird. "Your turn now, Philomena." She then hovered down near ground level, with Hummingway perching on her head. "Go ahead. You can do it."

As Philomena's gut began to rumble, Fluttershy vocalized the first five notes again, shortly taking a direct hit to the face from the load of half-digested birdseed that the patient heaved up. Curiously, the meat wasn't also expelled even if it went in after the birdseed.

Chronicle gave a sigh as he 'picked up' a napkin and wiped his friend's face with it. He was given a smile in return before Fluttershy turned back to face Philomeena. "Um…good try?"

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan D…

The two ponies and Philomena were now at the cottage's bathroom, which boasted its share of birdhouses and mouse holes to match the rest of the domicile. Fluttershy had filled the bathtub, wrapped Philomena in towels, and stood her on a towel rack. "I know what'll clear up that tickle in your throat." She approached a radiator, which she called— "A humidifier!"

She gave the valve a turn, releasing clouds of steam into the room, and the two ponies took a deep breath. "Refreshing. How's that feeling for you now, Philomena? Better?"

Philomena took a breath of her own as Fluttershy gave her a huge, wide-eyed, encouraging grin (another priceless face saved by Surveillance)—and then it came out as the same half-strangled cough. The hapless caretaker moaned sadly, and Philomena shed a few more feathers.

Fluttershy forced a smile. "That's okay. I know lots of other ways to take care of you. Don't worry. You're gonna get better. How about…" Her unicorn friend groaned at this.

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan E…

A fire now burned at the fireplace/stove, and candles and incense have been lit. Philomena was in a basket among this lot as Fluttershy leaned down to her.

"…aromatherapy?"

"Well, **I'm** certainly feeling better.", Chronicle commented as he lay down on the couch, ignoring Angel's attempts to kick him off.

The sickly avian got a lungful of the vapors, pale blue eyes widening, then sneezed violently and lost some more plumage to Fluttershy's dismay.

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan F…

Back at the bathroom, Philomena was placed in the tub, which was filled with steaming hot water.

"Warm bath?"

All this did was cause Philomena's body to bloat up to tub-filling proportions as she absorbed all the water like a sponge. And there went some more feathers.

_I'm starting to think she's what I think she is._

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan G…

Back to normal size, but with her eyes akin to Derpy Hooves's, and one of her eyes bugged out, a bit of ointment was squirted on Philomena's head. What happened next was a very bad allergic reaction, breaking out in a full-body rash and shedding some more feathers. Chronicle smacked himself in the face again. _This is getting ridiculous._

C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P—C—F—P

Plan H…

Fluttershy was nervous and sweating, now with a doctor's reflector strapped to her forehead and a stethoscope around her neck. Chronicle, who sat down in front of her, smacked himself in the face again at what he was seeing. And his face was getting sore from all the facehoofs he had been doing on himself.

"Scalpel!", she called. It was passed to her from Angel (who wore a reflector as well), who was in charge of the implements as his mistress she worked for a moment. "Surgical tape!" Angel slapped the requested roll of tape into Fluttershy's hoof, and she worked intently for a second. "Feathers!" Angel gave her a basket of the ones Philomena had been constantly shedding, then mopped the sweat from her brow as she worked again.

Once she was done, Chronicle grumbled at the sight of Philomena, rashes cleared up and sitting on the floor, with feathers taped back on to cover any bare spots. Needless to say, the results were far from convincing, and she coughed and let her head flop over onto the floor. _All the signs are pointing to Philomena being…but can it be? Seems to be plausible. There's no doubt about that._

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Angel did away with their reflectors and the stethoscope. "Oh, Philomena," She held the bird's head up. "I thought it would be easy to nurse you back to health. But I've tried everything I know, and look at you." She lifted Philomena on a foreleg. "You're worse than ever!"

"If this is what I think it is, I think Philomena's a—" Before Chronicle could finish, there came a knock at the door. Fluttershy, setting down the bird on the little table by the couch, slid over to it at lightning speed, much to his surprise. Before either of them could open the door, it burst open and Twilight walked in.

"Hi, Fluttershy. I just wanted to drop by and say thank you so very much for making such a good impression on the Princess today.", she said, then turned to her bodyguard. "Chronicle, I was wondering where you were." She then stopped short with a huge gasp upon seeing Philomena. "What is Celestia's pet doing here?!"

"Oh dear."

"I couldn't leave the poor thing there.", Fluttershy explained. "She needed my help."

Twilight was obviously in a state of panic. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no." She then did a facehoof. "This is bad!"

"How could I just walk away and not do anything?"

"But-but she doesn't belong to you!" Philomena keeled over.

"I tried to tell her.", Chronicle said. "But she was surprisingly stubborn when it comes to sick animals."

"I had to do something!"

"Without telling anypony? Without asking permission?!"

"Again, I tried to tell her."

"But—" The supine bird coughed…

"I know you had good intentions—" …and slid off the table. "—but you have got to return the Princess's pet!"

"But—" The debate ended when Philomena climbed partway back up with a wheezing inhalation. Fluttershy gave a sigh. "You're right. Okay, let's—" The breath came out as a cough. "—go." As she got a basket from the floor, Twilight yanked the ailing bird off the table by the tail, then stowed her in the basket, which was now on Fluttershy's back, and the lid was clapped down.

The reason why they didn't use Chronicle's "hammerspace" was because if anybody tried to look at its interior, their minds will break from trying to comprehend it. He had first told Twilight and Spike this during his first few days as her charge when he decided to share it. After the events concerning Nightmare Moon, he told the rest of their friends about this as well as anybody else who knew of his "hammerspace", which wasn't many.

Twilight galloped to the door. "If we hurry, we can put her back before anypony even realizes she's missing." She hit the door with a burst of telekinesis to open it, but froze in place with a gasp and a start that made her tail stand out straight. On the step were the two royal guards who kept watch over Sugarcube Corner during the brunch. Twilight bit down on her lower lip so hard that she might've drawn blood at any moment.

C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P

Eyecatch (picture-type) - The door to Fluttershy's cottage open, revealing the two guards. The show's logo is seen on the bottom left.

C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P

The two impassive guards advanced slowly into Fluttershy's cottage. "We were told we could find Twilight Sparkle here.", said one guard.

"We regret to inform you, miss, that the royal pet has gone missing.", continued the other as Twilight grinned fixedly.

"Really!" There was wheezing from Fluttershy's basket. "You don't say!" She managed a couple of little giggles to try and mask the sound, but the lid-lifting hack that followed it was a real stretch. Zipping to Fluttershy's side, she worked up a few coughs to try and pass the noises off as her own; every time the basket sounded off, she turned her own up a notch. Eventually, she nudges Fluttershy's flank, prompting her to join in. Chronicle just kept a straight poker face, not betraying any emotion. He also rolled his eyes at this ridiculous cover-up as the two guards traded a puzzled look and it eventually die down.

"It's that dry night air.", Twilight said in a hoarse tone of voice and a grin as sweat rolled down.

"But it's daytime.", Fluttershy pointed out.

"Well, day air's even drier!" She gave a laugh.

Deciding to play along with this as his charge began to push the guards out. "Well luckily for me, I took my cough syrup today."

"You guards better be on your way if you're gonna find the Princess's missing pet—Philomena, was it? Thank you ever so much for keeping me in the loop. Byeee!"

She magically slammed the door and turns away from it, heaving for breath, before risking a look out the window to make sure the guards were really leaving. As she turned back toward the room and gave a sigh of relief.

"I'm surprise that actually worked.", Chronicle remarked. "The ones I had to deal with back in Canterlot are more competent than this."

"Wait, you had to deal with guards before?"

"Let's just say a past charge of mine got mixed up with a criminal and leave it at that, okay?"

"Uhh…okay." And then her eyes popped. "What are you doing?" As it turns out, Fluttershy was on her way toward the door.

"Going to return Philomena, remember?" Twilight blocked the way.

"We can't now!"

"Why not?"

Twilight was really freaking out now. "You have no idea what the Princess is gonna do if she finds you're the one who took her pet, do you?!"

"Do you?"

"Well…no. But it can't be anything good! She might banish you—"

"To the moon? Oh, please.", Chronicle interrupted. "That joke's already old and Celestia only managed to do that once with Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony. And that's assuming she can still use them now."

"Well, maybe not the moon, but she might banish her from Equestria! Or throw her in a dungeon! Or banish her and then throw her in a dungeon in the place that she banishes her to!"

"You really think the Princess would do that?", the pegasus asked as she began to pace the floor.

"Okay, granted, that probably won't happen—but do you want to take any chances?"

"All that really matters to me is that poor little Philomena here gets well." The critter in question popped out of the basket with a wheeze that left her hanging headfirst over the edge.

"That's very noble of you. I'll write to you when you're banished—unless I'm banished too, somewhere there's no post office. Then you'll have to write to me. Deal?" Chronicle just rolled his eyes at this ridiculous notion, then seriously hoped it wouldn't come true.

"Please, Twilight. You just have to help me get Philomena healthy, and then we can return her to the Princess…" During this, Fluttershy pivoted to give the unicorn mare a close look at Philomena's sweaty brow and bloodshot, oozing eyes. "…and everything will be fine."

"Did you give her any kind of medicine?"

"I tried to, but she wouldn't take it."

"Actually, she did, remember?", reminded the sole stallion in the house. "But apparently it wasn't enough."

Twilight groaned loudly as Philomena fell out. "Then you have to make her take more, Fluttershy! You can't be such a pushover! You need to show this patient who's the boss! Make her straighten up and fly right!"

"She can't fly!"

"It's a figure of speech, Fluttershy.", said the blue unicorn.

His charge rummaged around for a second and came up with another capsule. "No excuses!", she said. A push on one taloned foot caused the beak to open as if it were a hinged trash can lid, and the medication was dropped in and swallowed. "Done! Okay, what else?"

"Uh, well, she keeps pulling her feathers off—the ones that haven't fallen out yet from all the coughing, I mean.", the pegasus provided.

Indeed Philomena was nipping at her own feathers. Twilight's solution was to clap on a conical collar, the sort used to keep dogs from trying to chew at an injured spot. "There you go."

Philomena tumbled over and tried to pull the collar off. "I don't think she likes it." The bird started walking, head doubled over with the collar scraping the floor.

"Tough love, baby! You want her to get well, don't you?" Philomena began to roll around the room.

"Of course, but—"

"Next!" Chronicle felt this wasn't right, but couldn't figure out what to say. He still didn't know much of Philomena's kind, and he knew nothing about bird care since none of his past charges were bird keepers.

"Well, she desperately needs some bed rest, but I can't get her to stay put."

When the patient walked past, Twilight plunked a hoof down on the collar edge to stop her and flip her back upright. "One step ahead of you."

C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P

The plan of making Philomena stay put was to trap her in a birdcage and cover it with a sheet of cloth, and removing the collar beforehoof. Angry noises were heard beneath it as she tried to break out.

Chronicle was lost in thought on whether or not this was the correct procedure. "It's for your own good, Philomena, I promise.", Fluttershy said to the bird as Twilight looked at the soup she made. "Please just relax and try to get some sleep."

"What's this soup over here?", the unicorn mare asked. "Smells delicious."

"I made it for Philomena, but she wouldn't eat it." Twilight levitated the bowl off the table it rested on.

"Oh, she'll eat it, all right." With a half-crazed smile, she brought the bowl over to the cage and whisked the cloth away. As soon as she popped the latch on the door, Philomena jumped out with a screech and ran off, knocking the soup to the floor. Since Chronicle had been lost in thought, he didn't react fast enough to stop her as she headed out through the door. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"No! Philomena! Come back!", Fluttershy cried out as the three of them took pursuit.

C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P—C—TS—F—P

The three followed Philomena through the park outside Ponyville, chasing her to a tree and around it several times, the speed increasing until they couldn't bee seen under the thick cloud of dust thrown up by the chase. Chronicle quickly braked into a stop, looked up the tree, and saw Philomena taking refuge here and running off along a limb. He instantly teleported to the treetop and followed her, leaving his friends behind.

Unfortunately, chasing Philomena proved to be harder than chasing a cat and for some reason his pinpointing spell had no effect on her feathers and he soon lost her. While looking for her, he bypassed the guards showing a sketch of Philomena to Caramel, who shook his head.

Later, he reunited with his charge and Fluttershy at the park. As they passed by a bench, they noticed a figure reading a newspaper. The three ponies doubled back and stopped at the bench. The figure lowered the paper and the two mares coughed a bit to see if the bystander might recognize it as a tip to Philomena. After the bystander shrugged and went back to the paper, the three ponies traded a puzzled look and galloped off again.

However, Chronicle screeched into a stop upon realizing something. _Wait a ******' second!_ He shook his head vigorously, turned back, and realized that the bystander was Philomena with a bushy brown mustache hung over her beak. _How the **** did she fool me?! How the **** did I let myself be fooled?!_ He was seriously angry not only at her but at himself. He charged straight for her, but before he could catch her in his aura, she was off. And once again he lost her.

Eventually, he reunited with his two friends and chastised them harshly for falling for such a transparent disguise, and cut them off before they could call him out on falling for it as well; at least he realized it while they didn't until he told them. As they caught sight of Philomena again (who had shed her disguise) as she ran, they then encountered the pair of guards again. Thankfully, they were looking the other way as they sneaked past them.

In the middle of the chase, Chronicle found himself astray from the others and dizzy after a round of haphazard circling. By the time he found them again, he saw Philomena in an alley between two buildings, each of which had two doors facing the other.

He saw the bird peek out from the front right door, then run to the front left, staying just ahead of Twilight as she went in after her. Philomena then emerged from the back left and went into the back right, Fluttershy following from above. The bird and unicorn then exited the 'back' doors and crossed each other to get to the 'front' ones. Fluttershy then exited the 'front' right door and entered the 'front' left.

The sight of this boggled his mind as an image of a monster chasing a Great Dane and his friends flashed in his mind. He managed to see Philomena peek out the 'front' left door and Twilight out the 'back' right. The former retreated back in while the latter charged forward…straight into Fluttershy as she exited the same door Philomena was a second ago and they crashed headlong into each other. He then felt something brush against his tail, turned to the 'culprit', and saw Philomena.

"That-a-way!", he called.

They took chase, but lost her yet again. Tired of this, he decided to split up from the girls, as they entered the town square. He stopped at the pavilion to look around in case Philomena was in the area. He saw the guards walk up to a flagpole and stick their sketch of the bird onto it. Just before he looked away, he saw Philomena go over to it, draw a bushy mustache and eyebrows onto the picture to throw off her trackers, then run off again.

He immediately gave chase, but lost her yet again as he reunited with his two friends. _I know I'm a better tracker than this!_, he cursed himself. _Sure, it's not my special talent but… damn, that bird must have learned ninjutsu._ He then decided to ask, "Hey girls. Why didn't we, after hearing that the guards were looking for Philomena, just sneak her into the backyard and then rush out to them some time later and explain that we found her? Yes, it would've been a bit dishonest, but…"

"I never thought about that, given we were panicking unlike you.", Twilight said.

"I was too. I'm just better at hiding it."

"I don't think it would have worked anyway, seeing as it might have looked suspicious if we 'found' Philomena so soon after she went missing in a suspicious manner."

"I could've come up with something, but you never gave me the chance to. And yes, it's my fault for not trying harder."

The conversation was interrupted as Rainbow Dash flew in above them. "What are you two doing? Are you having a race? Oh, can I play? One-two-three-go!" She streaked ahead and the other three threw each other a slightly confused look and carried on.

They reached a fountain decorated by a rearing-pony statue, where Applejack (balancing an apple on her nose), Pinkie (eating a cupcake), and Rarity were. That's when the searching became ridiculous. Pinkie was suddenly lifted off her hooves by Fluttershy—who was checking the ground beneath for any sign of Philomena—and was now balanced on her back.

"Excuse me.", said the yellow pegasus.

"Hi!", greeted Pinkie as Applejack consumed the fruit she was playing with.

"Beg your pardon.", Twilight said as she grabbed Rarity, lifted her, and looked underneath.

"Put me down!", Rarity demanded, and Twilight did so.

Despite the impossibility of it, Chronicle decided to check Applejack's hat and 'flipped' it in the air before it landed back on her head. _She ain't hiding there._, he deduced.

"What in tarnation?", the farmpony complained.

"Sorry, but we've gotta find—", Fluttershy said before she was cut off by the guards, who were now nearby and looking upward.

"The Princess's pet bird!", one of them said.

Perched on the statue's head was Philomena is perched here, having lost all her feathers except for a few fragments and still coughing wretchedly. _How the hay did she get up there?_

"Philomena, come down from there!", Fluttershy scolded. "You'll hurt yourself!" Just then, the last tail feather popped loose, then Philomena hacked and wheezed her way through a string of full-body convulsions and ended up collapsed on her back atop the statue. After an uncomfortably long pause, she snapped upright and delivered an encore that sent her into a headfirst dive to the ground. "I'll catch you!"

Applejack and Pinkie gasped as she zipped ahead. Even though they were very close to it, she ran as if she were meters away. Chronicle was closer and he prepared to catch Philomena in his telekinetic grip as she didn't seem to fall straight down and slower than would be normal. Then, before the race between gravity and leg power could be decided, Philomena was enveloped in a burst of flame. Fluttershy gasped in pure shock and threw herself into a slide just in front of Chronicle, who had been paralyzed in shock as well, but for different reasons.

_That slide would've earned a nod of approval from Willie Mays._, he thought, then banished the idea as Fluttershy stopped with front hooves outstretched, the fire dying out and leaving a little pile of ashes. _That's not the time for that! Looks like Philomena's definitely what I think she is._ He did his best to remain neutral as he knew it wasn't what it looked like, but didn't want to look unsympathetic.

The rest of their friends, Rainbow joining them just after the spontaneous combustion, gasped and the catcher did everything she could to keep from bursting into tears on the spot. However, the little whimper from her throat clearly stated that she was losing the battle as the ashes trickled to the ground.

With the guards staring aghast, the situation took yet one more bizarre turn when Celestia walked onto the scene. "What is going on here?", she asked sternly. The guards bowed and backed off, while the others followed suit except for the 'backing off' part. The only ones who didn't were Fluttershy, who regarded the ashes despairingly, and Chronicle, who gave his respects in his usual manner. "Twilight?"

Her student quickly straightened up. "Yes, Your Majesty? There's been a terrible accident."

"Philomena spontaneously burst into flames.", Chronicle answered, earning him a shocked look from his charge. "I'm not going around 'death' words like the rest of you."

Fluttershy stepped ahead, then said, "It's all my fault."

Twilight then stepped ahead. "No, Princess. Fluttershy didn't know any better. It was my fault."

"I'm the one who did it."

"But you were only trying to help."

"Some help I was." It was becoming obvious that they were trying to take the blame for the other. If Chronicle had any fault in this, it was not trying to stop the petnapping from happening in the first place.

"Will you let me do this? She'll go easier on me!"

"But it's my fault!"

"No, it's my fault!"

Pinkie then popped up. "Nope, it's my fault!…Wait. What are we talking about?" She then zipped away, completely missing the violet unicorn's grimace.

Fluttershy stepped ahead to Celestia and said, "Thanks for trying to protect me, Twilight, but, Princess Celestia, I'm the one who took your pet bird. I really was only trying to help the poor little thing. Then I was gonna bring it right back to you, honest." She continued to confess as Celestia walked over to the pile of ashes now next to the grass by the fountain. "So, if you want to banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to…" Fluttershy lowered her head. "…then that's what I deserve."

"Please, if she let Pinkie Pie live after stealing a cupcake she was about to eat, I'm sure what you're gonna get won't be as bad as you think.", Chronicle tried to assure her, then turned to the regent with an unsure face. "Right?" Celestia eyed the contrite yellow pony for a moment before turning her attention back to the earthly remains of her prized pet. Closing her eyes, she lowered her head toward the pile—then opened them and cheerfully addressed it.

"Oh, stop fooling around, Philomena! You're scaring everypony."

As the ashes wafted into the air seemingly on their own, bringing gasps from the four uninvolved ponies, Chronicle dared asked, "Is she what I think she is?" The ashes then reconstituted themselves into a bird. However, it wasn't the sickly, molting, cross-eyed wreck that drove Fluttershy up the wall. This one had plumage of red, orange, and gold, long tail feathers, and an impressive size and wingspan. The new bird briefly silhouetted itself against a burst of light as everypony save Celestia and her guards gave various gasps, oohs, and aahs. The bird then soared down toward them, trailing licks of fire from its wings.

And Chronicle wasn't scared of it at all (given it had fire coming out of its body), which his friends save for Rainbow and Rarity noticed as they weren't present when he first showed his fear back at that incident with the hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog.

"I don't understand!", Fluttershy said as the bird landed on Celestia's raised foreleg. "What is that thing? What happened to Philomena?"

"Let me guess.", said Chronicle as he made his way to his friend's side. "**That** is Philomena, right?"

Celestia nodded in affirmation. "She's quite a sight, as I said, but nothing unusual for a phoenix. Isn't that right, Philomena?" Her pet let off a happy little cry.

"A…a phoenix?" Philomena leaned down to look Fluttershy straight on and gave a nod.

"A phoenix is a majestic and magical bird While it appears healthy and happy most of the time—" Philomena lifted off from the foreleg and circled high above. "—every so often it must renew itself by shedding all of its feathers and bursting into flame." She then leaned toward the two and whispered as her pet gave another happy cry. "Rather melodramatic, if you ask me." She then straightened up and resumed normal volume. "It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy." The phoenix then perched back on her foreleg.

"Right, phoenixes are known for reincarnation.", said the unicorn stallion. "I also read that their tears—or maybe it was their song—have healing properties and that their feathers can save anypony (and maybe other non-ponies) from near-death."

"You read up on phoenixes?", asked Twilight.

"It was prior to our transfer to Ponyville, when only you were my charge. I found a book on them while doing some lazy browsing in the library we and Spike used to live in."

"I'm afraid mischievous little Philomena here took the occasion to have a little fun with you, Fluttershy.", Celestia apologized. Philomena covered her head with one wing on this line, embarrassed at being called out as she was lowered to Fluttershy's level and sternly scolded. "Say you're sorry, young lady." A whimper came from the bird.

"So—aren't you gonna banish me, or throw me in a dungeon or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to?", Fluttershy asked. There were befuddled looks from the uninvolved ponies sans Pinkie.

Celestia gave a smile. "Of course not, my little pony." Philomena lifted off. "Where on earth would you get such an idea?"

The involved mares traded an anxious glance and then smiled. "I guess I have some imagination."

"Actually, your faithful student was the one with that idea.", Chronicle told the princess, ignoring the sweaty look Twilight was giving him in an attempt to get him to stop. "And given that she's probably known you on a personal level, I'm surprised she came up with such a conclusion." Celestia gave a knowing shake of the head in response.

Twilight gave a sigh, trying to set aside what her bodyguard had told her teacher, and said, "Fluttershy really did do everything she could to try to take care of Philomena for you."

"And I do appreciate that your heart was in the right place, child.", Celestia said. "But all you had to do was ask me, and I could've told you Philomena was a phoenix and saved you all this trouble."

"I know.", confessed Fluttershy. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Next time I'll ask before taking matters into my own hooves."

Twilight reacted with mild surprise, then asked, "Should I write you a letter about that lesson, Princess?"

"No, that's quite all right." Philomena perched on her back and she glanced toward her. "I think I can remember."

"I still think it's necessary to have it written down.", Chronicle stated as he 'produced' a quill and parchment. ""Wouldn't want Twilight to forget she did, now would we?"

"Come on, you really think I would?"

"Helps to be certain when it comes to you and your schedules."

As the two guards brought over the birdcage, the reborn pet swooped into the sky, stuck one of her feathers behind Fluttershy's ear shaft first, then dropped another to Chronicle, who 'caught' it in his aura. The two looked up to the hovering Philomena, who cooed softly.

"It's beautiful.", said Fluttershy. "Thank you, Philomena. No hard feelings."

"I'll accept this feather as compensation for everything you did.", Chronicle told the phoenix. "Thank you, Philomena."

As the bird swooped off again, Rainbow eyed the two stolid-faced guards, then pondered to herself before getting a sudden inspiration. She then flew up to whisper to Philomena and got a nod in response. The phoenix perched on top of her cage and spread her wings just enough to tickle the guards' noses. They tried to hold their composure, but soon lost it in roaring fits of laughter. Philomena trades a midair high five with the sky-blue prankster.

"Yeah!", whooped Rainbow as her own laughter mingled with a raucous caw from her accomplice. Everypony else followed shortly.

A few seconds after that, Celestia then bent down to Chronicle's ear and whispered, "By the way, about phoenix feathers being able to revive those from near-death…"

The unicorn stallion's ears drooped. "Let me guess, that's actually false?"

"No. It's really true." She then gave a wink. "Gotcha."

Chronicle groaned at being "trolled" by the princess before resuming a smile.

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

nightelf37: And that concludes the chapter. Sorry if there were no notes this time, but hey. I can't have them all he time, you know. There are the little shout-outs, though. See ya on Third!


	20. Chapter 17: Stare Master

nightelf37: Here's a piece of trivia for you guys: I was planning a ship tease between Rarity and Mystic Shield, but then I remembered Spike, so I decided to discard it.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: My originally designed OCs, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 17: Stare Master**

One day in Ponyville…

Chronicle was with nothing to do. Again. Mystic Shield was down with the flu and had also contracted the poison joke thanks to a prankster (who was **not** Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash), rendering him weak in magic and disaster-prone. Effectively, he is unable to protect anyone, let alone himself, which is his cutie mark's meaning. He sent a request for that special bubble bath from the spa, and the Blossom twins (Lotus and Aloe) said they would get in touch with him soon as possible since they were very busy at the moment.

Twilight Sparkle had plans on going to the Everfree Forest and despite his insistence she didn't wish for him to accompany her for reasons he couldn't recall for the moment. He managed to ask her to get some ingredients for the poison joke cure. Already bored of library work with Spike, he decided to head for Carousel Boutique to ask for a little more improvement on his suit for the Grand Galloping Gala. Upon hearing him head there, the baby dragon asked if he could get something else for him from her.

He shook off the thought as he finally reached Rarity's home and workplace. Just as he reached the door however, he bumped into somepony, knocking him back a bit. "Oww…"

"I'm so sorry.", a familiar voice came.

"Me too…", he replied as he opened his eyes to see— "Fluttershy?!"

Indeed it was her and she reacted similarly. "Chronicle?!"

"Man, this is the second time around, huh?" The first one being from the last brunch that was later followed up with the fiasco involving Princes Celestia's pet phoenix Philomena.

"I guess."

"Hey, what's that?" A distance away was a pretty basket with a blanket tucked over the contents. Thankfully, it had remained upright in spite of their collision.

"Oh, it's Opalescence. I was just bringing her back from her grooming."

"I see. Let's not keep her waiting, shall we?"

They knocked on the closed door first, but there was no answer, even though the sign read "OPEN". "Maybe she's upstairs working.", Fluttershy suggested as she hoisted the basket back on her back.

The blue unicorn nodded. "That must be the case. Now where's the doorbell?" His question was answered as his friend did just that, pushing on something on the wall he never noticed before. "Oh." The door then creaked open. "Let's go."

And they did just that, reaching the second floor, where they found another doorbell next to a door where they heard voices. They rang that and the door opened, revealing Rarity, who was hard at work on a sewing machine. He also saw Sweetie Belle there, having learned at some point that the two were sisters. She hasn't learned any magic yet, so Mystic Shield hadn't taken interest in taking her in as a student, not that Rarity would allow it even if it were the case.

"What now?!", they heard the designer groan as Fluttershy put down the basket.

"Oh! Sorry. I thought the OPEN sign meant you were open, but…" The pegasus began to back out. "…I-I must have been mistaken." Chronicle stopped her shortly.

"It's not a mistake. We just caught her at a bad time.", the unicorn stallion whispered to her.

Rarity noticed the two and gasped. "Fluttershy!", she greeted as she crossed the room. "Forgive me. I was so wrapped up in my work that I forgot you were bringing Opalescence back from her grooming."

Fluttershy came in again. "No worries, Rarity." A fold of the blanket on the basket came loose revealing the cat's face in the shade beneath it. "I've left her there in the basket." Opal promptly jumped out with a grumbly meow to show off her spotless coat.

"Ooh, she looks great. I just don't understand how you're able to do it.", said the designer as her sister joined her. "Oh, Chronicle! What brings you here?"

"Just here for another 'practical revision' on my suit." He 'procured' the draft and passed it to Rarity, who 'took' it and 'placed' it somewhere before leaning down to Opal, who was now rubbing her head against Fluttershy's foreleg and purring contentedly.

"You know, I can't get near Opal without getting a swipe from her claws.", she commented. Then she got one aimed at her nose, with a complimentary snarl to boot. She then turned to face Fluttershy. "Did you use…" Her eyes widened at this. "…the Stare on her?"

Chronicle was shocked at this news. Mystic Shield had fallen victim to this once when he accidentally injured a manticore cub while doing a request on the Request Board. He stumbled into the animal empath while doing so and she misinterpreted the situation. And so the Stare had been used on him. Mystic had told this to him sometime after the parasprite incident.

Fluttershy's response to Rarity's question was, "Oh, no! I wouldn't! I couldn't! I-I don't really have any control over when that happens. I-It just happens."

Chronicle rolled his eyes. _Liar. You have control over it. You just don't have the personality to use it liberally._

"No. I'm just good with animals." She knelt to nuzzle Opal's cheek. "It's my special gift, you know."

Rarity gave a wink. "Well, you should have a picture of Opal as a cutie mark instead of those butterflies."

Just then, Sweetie got an idea and rushed to Opal. "Oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh! Oh! Maybe I can be good with animals too!" The cat was clearly not thrilled with this suggestion and took a swipe at her mane, severing one of its curls. A big nasty smile stitched itself across the fluffy white face. "Or not." She then galloped away as the two mares had a laugh, the stallion giving a groan. Once it died out, Opal made her own stately exit.

"I'm sorry I can't invite you to stay and chat, Fluttershy.", Rarity apologized. "I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew with this order."

Sweetie was now by the sewing machine, the curl Opal had cut now having grown back out. "But you're not eating anything."

Her older sister went over to her. "No, Sweetie, it's an expression. It means that I've taken on more work than I can handle. I've got twenty of these special robes to make tonight. They're due in Trottingham tomorrow morning." Ducking her head briefly to the floor, she came up with the edge of a piece of glittering yellow fabric that briefly waved across their faces. Both of Rarity's visitors gasped happily when it settled. She then held the material up on a foreleg. "See? I've lined them in this special gold silk. It took so long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don't you?" While she spoke, her younger sister was eying the silk with undiluted wonder.

"These are lovely, but twenty?", asked Fluttershy. "By tonight? How will you get it all done?"

"Well, I, uh…"

"Oh, oh, oh!", cried out Sweetie. "Maybe I could…" She lost steam as Rarity glared at her. She began to trot away. "…just…just stand over here and watch."

"I'll manage."

"Well, maybe I should get out of your mane so you can work.", the pegasus offered.

"Yeah, I think we should.", the sole stallion agreed. Before they could reach the door, the hunched-down figures of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo barreled in past them.

"As they raced along, they greeted the two and Rarity simultaneously as they passed them by (the designer giving off a weak reply) and stopped dead just in front of their fellow Cutie Mark Crusader, who was looking quite glum.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle!", they both greeted.

And suddenly Sweetie was all smiles as she greeted them back. "Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!"

"You ready for tonight?", asked Scootaloo.

Sweetie gave a salute. "Yep! Cutie mark planning session is a go!"

"Tonight is the night we each try to find our own special talent!", announced Bloom.

"Even if it takes us all night!", said the pegasus filly as Bloom leaned over to her.

"I'm ready. You ready?"

Scootaloo gave a wink. "Very ready."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SLEEPOVER AT RARITY'S!", all three of them cried out. "YAY!" The force of their triplicate yell was enough to shake the whole building and every pony in it.

"Aaand…look what I made us!", Sweetie announced as she donned a red cape with a blue patch that displayed the yellow silhouette of a caped, rearing filly. There was enthusiastic approval from her fellow Crusaders.

"What does that patch on your cape mean?", Chronicle dared to ask as he and Fluttershy walked over. He felt like he knew the answer.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! YAY!", they all answered, blowing the two's faces as they squinched them up against the intensity.

"We're on a crusade!", said Scootaloo. "A mission!"

"To find our cutie marks!" Bloom.

"Yep, and look." Sweetie then lifted one foreleg, exposing the inner lining of the cape—a very familiar-looking yellow fabric. "I lined 'em with this special gold silk. It took so long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don't you?"

_***k._, thought Chronicle as he saw the silk.

Rarity saw it too as her face went slack with a very unpleasant thought, then here eyes contracted to panicked pinpoints and one of them starts twitching on its own.

"Ooooh!", cried out the other two Crusaders.

With a rising moan, Rarity flashed past everypony to reach her sewing machine. She grabbed the edge of the gold silk in her teeth and pulled it free, exposing three rectangular holes where Sweetie cut it out. ""Sweetie Belle!", she gasped as the culprit gave a sheepish grin. "What have you done?!" She then let the scrap fall to the floor. "That was the last of the gold silk! Oh, now I'll have to make more!" She gave a shudder. "Oh, I hope I can make more. I'm gonna have to work all night! Which means…" She turned to face the Crusaders. "…sorry, girls. I'm afraid the Crusader sleepover is canceled."

"What?!", gasped her younger sister.

"Nice job breaking it, Sweetie Belle.", snarked the sole stallion in the room.

"I just won't have any time to watch you if I want to get these robes delivered on time."

"But—"

"No buts this time. I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, it's just the way it has to be."

All the Crusaders dropped their heads. "Awww…"

Fluttershy then walked to them. "I, uh…I suppose I could take them for the night."

Three little heads bobbed up and aimed huge ingratiating smiles toward Rarity. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Oh, it's no problem at all."

"Have you met my sister and her friends?" The Crusaders' smiles vanished. "A problem is all it would be."

"Did I have a problem with Opal? You've seen how well I handle small creatures." There were smaller smiles from the three now.

"I suppose that's true, and I do have a lot of work to do."

"Come on, it'll be fun." The smiles vanished.

"I assure you, they're quite a handful." The smiles widened.

"These sweet little angels?"

The smiles became positively beatific as a halo appeared above each Crusader's head. Chronicle was a bit confused as to how they did it, but he knew they were anything but 'good little girls'.

"Well…all right.", Rarity relented as the halos vanished.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SLEEPOVER AT FLUTTERSHY'S COTTAGE!", the trio of fillies cried out, eliciting the usual reaction from the others as they zipped out the door. "YAY!"

"So cute.", Fluttershy said as she looked warmly after them, then suddenly panicked. "Wait for me!" She kicked her wings into top gear and flew out, leaving the overworked designer to voice an uneasy moan by herself as Chronicle swiftly followed.

C—AB—R—F—S—SB—C—AB—R—F—S—SB

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - The screen is filled with gold silk, save for a cut out rectangle shape in the center, where the Cutie Mark Crusaders smile at the camera with halos over their heads. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—AB—R—F—S—SB—C—AB—R—F—S—SB

Outdoors…

The Cutie Mark Crusaders galloped through Ponyville, Sweetie having ditched her cape. Chronicle and Fluttershy were bringing up the rear.

"Maybe we should hire a foalsitter.", the unicorn stallion suggested to his friend. "I know somepony who has moved from Cloudsdale who is very good with children." (1)

But he was ignored as Fluttershy began to wonder. "Oh, won't this be ever so fun? We can have a nice little tea party, and braid each others' tails, and sit quietly and color, and tell each other fairy tales, and—"

She was cut off by Chronicle coming up from below her. "No time to dawdle lest we lose the kids." He then sped off with her on his back.

A short distance ahead, the Crusaders flashed past Twilight Sparkle in a giggling mini-stampede that left her spinning in place. Once she regained her balance and got her eyes re-focused, she found them goofing around at a well. Turning away from the scene, turned back and saw her bodyguard coming up with Fluttershy on his back.

"Hello, Fluttershy, Chronicle.", she greeted as the two came over.

"Oh! Hello, Twilight.", Fluttershy greeted in return. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm heading to the Everfree Forest, to Zecora's, to get some of my favorite tea."

Fluttershy was suddenly unnerved. "The…th-th-the Everfree Forest? Uh, you'll be careful, won't you?"

"And you're sure you don't need me?", asked Chronicle.

"Of course." Twilight answered both questions. "How about you? What are you two doing with the girls?"

Fluttershy jumped off of Chronicle and landed to his right. "Rarity has a big order to fill tonight, so I volunteered to take the girls over to my cottage for a sleepover."

"Wow! Sounds like everypony has their hooves full today."

"I was considering getting Skyla to foalsit them.", said the blue unicorn. "She's very good with children."

"Unfortunately, I just saw her already taking care of some other foals. I think it was Snips and Snails."

"Oh. That's a shame."

His charge then turned back to Fluttershy as the three Crusaders popped up from the well. Bloom was on its roof, Scootaloo behind it, and Sweetie in its bucket. "Taking care of those three fillies all by yourself? You sure you can handle it?" The three ducked away.

"What? These sweet little angels?" The three zipped up and smiled hugely with halos popping up over their heads. "They'll be no problem at all."

"And since you obviously don't want me to escort you, I guess I'll just help **her** out." Chronicle then went in closer and whispered. "You sure you don't want me to at least have a clone of mine accompany you?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." He then turned serious. "But if anything bad happens to you there, you're not going to the forest ever again without an escort, you understand me?"

"I understand. But you're still watching me, right?"

"While my Surveillance can see you, given I'll be busy foalsitting with Futtershy, I won't be able to check."

C—TS—AB—F—S—SB—C—TS—AB—F—S—SB

Sunset at Fluttershy's cottage…

Having a better look at the place in spite of the setting sun as the rest went inside, Chronicle could'nt help but feel impressed that Fluttershy's penchant for taking care of animals extended even up to this level. A couple of birdhouses were mounted on the sides of the chimney as well as around the house. He circled the place and began summoning magical clones to stand guard. He was able to at least make four now. He also allowed himself a relatively quiet tour of the place, keeping watch of the Everfree Forest nearby.

Evening came and the lights were turned on. The owner of the place closed the top falf of her front door. Inside, the Crusaders were making themselves heard in an excited cacophony.

"Wow, look at this place!", Sweetie Belle cried out as she and the other Crusaders flung off saddlebags they had picked up back home and packed for their sleepover. One nearly hit a squirrel and bird in their dwellings as the trio of fillies zipped from one place to another, rooting out every surprise they can find in drawers and cabinets.

"No problem at all.", Fluttershy said to herself in a fixed smile. She then addressed the Crusaders. "Okay, girls, uh, what should we do?"

"I'm gonna get my mark first!", Scootaloo said, ignoring their caretaker.

"Girls?"

Sweetie was next. "Nuh-uh!"

"Should we—"

Bloom followed after. "I am!"

"Girls…o-okay now, settle."

The three of them then leaped into the basket Angel was using as a bed, its owner waking up and jumpig clear as Scootaloo entered first, who briefly knocked herself cockeyed upon landing.

"I'm staying up all night!", the pegasus filly said as the others jumped on in time.

"Me too!", agreed Bloom.

"Me three!", Sweetie added.

"Uh, I know you're excited, but—" Fluttershy was cut off upon noticing that the basket was now empty; the Crusaders had quickly departed. "Girls…"

Back outside, Chronicle finished his little tour of the place, checking for any possible places where intruders and spies could come in or where any of the animals in Fluttershy's care could escape. He quietly 'patched up' those places, then made certain his clones were standing guard. Once he was sure everything was covered, he decided to take a quick break and access his Surveillance.

He first checked on Rarity, who was busy at making the robes to be sent to Trottingham. She looked seriously stressed. He then checked on Rainbow Dash, who was sound asleep in her cloud bed, drooling a bit. He then checked Pinkie Pie, who was snoozing like a baby, embracing Gummy around her front hooves. The little alligator didn't seem to mind one bit. Applejack was next; she was sound asleep on her bed, looking almost tired. He then checked on Twilight Sparkle; she was just on her way out and Spike bid her farewell.

Though he worried for Twilight, he decided to let her go by herself for once and made his way back to the cottage. He needed to relax a bit on his bodyguarding. Upon passing through the door, he saw the Scootaloo on Fluttershy's left, Bloom on her right, and Sweetie on top.

"A-And…and we…um…yeah! What they said!", the little unicorn was saying.

"Mmm—I don't know.", the already-harried babysitter said as sweat began to run down her face. "How about a nice, quiet little tea party?"

"Or…" Scootaloo looked out the window. "…we could go adventuring in the Everfree Forest!"

"Yeah!", her fellow Crusaders agreed. They made a beeline for the door, but Chronicle stopped them short with a force field around himself. Since the door was behind him, it was effectively blocked. Fluttershy joined him.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.", he warned. "The Everfree Forest is much too dangerous for little girls like you."

"It's filled with far too many strange creatures.", his friend added.

"But you could go with us and we could catch those creatures.", Sweetie suggested. "We could be…um…creature catchers!"

"YAAAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CREATURE CATCHERS!", the three chorused, the usual effect they had occurring in the cottage and the two grown-ups.

Scootaloo then flipped an empty basket onto her head, then grabbed a rug in her teeth and wrapped it around herself and Bloom while standing on the latter's back. Somehow, Scootaloo's eyes glowed beneath the basket's shade. as the "creature" tottered forward.

The little pegasus gave a growl. "I am a dangerous creature from the Everfree Forest!"

While Chronicle rolled his eyes, Sweetie flipped her eyes one way and another for a few seconds before catching on to the game. She then advanced slowly. "Halt, dangerous creature of the Everfree Forest! I am Sweetie Belle, the creature catcher, and I'm here to catch you!"

"You can never catch me! I am far too powerful and dangerous!"

"You cannot run from me!"

The "creature" growled and fled across the room, with a laughing Sweetie in hot pursuit. A moment later, the unicorn filly was the one trying to get away.

Fluttershy watched the spectacle with visible fear that her house would not be standing at the end of this game. "Um…oh, maybe that's not such a…uh, now, girls, how about we do some nice coloring—" Sweetie bounced off her back and Chronicle's as the "creature" passed by. "…oh!"

The only male in the room rolled his eyes again as the unicorn filly cried out, "Come back, dangerous creature…" Fluttershy ended up sitting on her haunches and chewing her lower lip. She then jumped onto and off a table. "…so I can catch you!"

"Never!", 'it' replied.

"Careful…you don't…" There came a crash. "…break anything.", Fluttershy warned too late.

The table Sweetie jumped from was smashed into pieces. Scootaloo had dismounted from Bloom's back, but was still wearing the basket on her head, and the trio and the pieces are sitting on the rug they used as a creature pelt.

The only reason Chronicle didn't make a move to stop them was because he once took up a foalsitter request on the Canterlot Request Board. The client's foals weren't as rambunctious as the Crusaders, but he had realized it was a much more difficult job than bodyguarding; his charges in the request weren't too behaved and he can't treat them like his usual adult charges. He didn't want to be too hard on them.

"Sorry, Fluttershy.", Sweetie apologized.

"Yeah, sorry.", agreed Scootaloo as the two and Bloom huddled down.

"I guess we aren't creature catchers." The two grown-up ponies walked over.

"Oh, girls, it's okay. I—", Fluttershy began before being cut off again.

"I know!", said Bloom. "We could be…Cutie Mark Crusader carpenters!"

"Carpenters?"

The three aspiring woodworkers galloped past the two grown-ups and returned to the wreckage one by one. Each now had a stethoscope around her neck and a doctor's reflector strapped to her forehead.

Left to right: Bloom, Sweetie, Scootaloo.)

"Hammer!", Bloom called. She was at one end of the line.

"Hammer!", Scootaloo replied before picking one up in her teeth and passed it to Sweetie, who stood between the two and passed it to Bloom.

"Hammer!", the unicorn said.

"Hammer!" And the pegasus filly got a second one and passed it to her. "Hammer!" A brief pause. "Hammer!" Having realized that she must get the tool herself, she picked up a third one and the three glanced sideways at each other with a nod.

Once the three got to work, Fluttershy got startled clean off the floor and into a huddle at the sound of vigorous power tool operation. Chronicle could only stand confused as he picked up the sound of not just hammers, but also a saw and a power drill from the dust cloud that had kicked up from the table, blocking it and the working Crusaders from view. The ruckus was enough to scare the bird and squirrel from before back into their homes near the ceiling.

When it ended and the dust cleared, Chronicle could see that the four pieces that made up the top have been sloppily nailed together into a shape that might **very** vaguely resemble a humanoid if he had been completely inebriated on a whole bottle of wine, which he had taken only thrice in his entire life, and he had **very** good reasons for drinking during those times. This shape stood atop the upside-down base. The Crusaders have done away with their hammers and medical gear.

"Um, that doesn't look like a table.", Sweetie commented.

"We were making a table?", Scootaloo asked.

"Somepony needs to put this thing out of its misery.", Bloom said.

"We are definitely not Cutie Mark carpenters." As she and Sweetie walked away, Fluttershy reached in and whisked the "table" away. Chronicle would request for it later and collect it for his "training range".

"Who wants a picture of a hammer on their flank, anyway?", commented Sweetie.

Chronicle took offense and retorted, "Hey, Mjölna has a hammer on her flank and she's—apart from a carpenter—an awesome blacksmith. She makes shields and armor." He specifically left out the mention of weapons.

"Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about a game?", Fluttershy asked as she flew across.

"A game?", Bloom parroted. Elsewhere, the other two Crusaders have already taken seats on a couch.

"It's called "Shhh."" Bloom then popped up behind the couch.

"What's that?", Scootaloo asked.

"Well, it's a game about who can be quiet the longest. Sound fun?"

"Sounds interesting.", Chronicle quipped.

As for the Crusaders however, they gave a three-way combo of skeptical stares, but Fluttershy soldiered on.

"I'm the world champ, you know. I bet you can't beat me." Throwing them a big squeaky grin, she sucked in a huge breath and clamped her mouth shut so that the air bulged out her cheeks.

Chronicle merely slowed in his breath and made himself discreet. His horn glowed, but he was able to make the shimmer near-inaudible as well. Dead silence reigned in the cottage for perhaps three seconds.

"I lose!", Scootaloo yelled.

"Me too!", Sweetie chorused.

"Me three!", Bloom followed. They then took off like a shot, but were stopped by a force field from Chronicle, who only winced a bit.

_Ooh. They're too clever for the quiet game._

"Hey! What's the big idea?", Scootaloo asked as the three of them pushed at the barrier. They were answered by him pointing at Fluttershy, then at himself, then he made a zip-your-mouth-closed gesture.

"Oh, they're still playin'.", Bloom realized. She then turned to the other two. They all grinned, turned to the barrier's conjurer, and started attacking the barrier with their front hooves.

In spite of how pathetically weak they were, Chronicle resisted the urge to taunt; he would lose the game to Fluttershy if he did. Still, if he concentrated too much, his horn's shimmer would become audible enough to be heard. Eventually, as he continued to concentrate on keeping the barrier up, he felt a hoof fall on his back. He turned to see Fluttershy, who had quietly let out her breath, shook her head, and then made a few gestures to signal that she heard his horn's shimmer. Sighing in defeat, he dismissed the force field, freeing the Crusaders as they cheered and zipped off.

Scootaloo started jumping on the cushions in Angel's basket, Sweetie climbed on a cabinet, and Bloom popped up from a corner.

"Okay, now what can we do?", asked the pegasus Crusader as Bloom galloped across the room and into the fireplace.

"Ooh!", the earth pony Crusader popped her head out—upside down, covered in soot. "How about Cutie Mark Crusader coal miners?" The other two emerged next to her.

"Yeah!"

"No!", said Fluttershy.

"Awww…" They filed sullenly past her and Chronicle, no longer streaked with fireplace residue.

"I mean, it's time for bed, don't you think? Aren't you excited to get all toasty and warm in your snuggly-wuggly wittle beds?

"Snuggly-wuggly?", retorted Bloom. "But we have more crusading to do!"

"We've got plans!", added Scootaloo.

Sweetie laid their Crusader capes by their saddlebags. "And capes!", she finished. But they continued heading glumly up the stairs.

"Uh, okay, um, maybe the crusading can wait until morning…when it's light…and not so…dark?", Fluttershy suggested as she shepherded them along.

As Chronicle followed right behind, just as he was halfway there, his horn began to spark wildly with magic. "Huh?", he said as he paused for a few seconds. Once the sparks stopped, he suddenly felt stiff all over and couldn't move, although he could still see and think. "Hhhnnnggg…" He could also still breathe, but not as much since he cannot move his body enough.

After making certain the Crusaders were upstairs, Fluttershy turned to see him not moving. "Chronicle, let's go.", she urged. But he didn't budge. Curious, she walked back down and poked him, but he seemed to be as hard as stone. She then pushed at his mane, then his tail, and found that each strand was just as stiff as the rest of his body. Just before she could panic, he was mobile again, breathing heavily for some reason. She went to his assistance and helped him catch his breath, panic coming in for a different reason. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah.", he replied between breaths. "I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. All of a sudden, Twilight came to mind, my horn was spewing sparks of magic, and then I was suddenly unable to move, like my body was turned to stone. I'm fine, though. Don't worry about me." _But what __**was**__ that?_

C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB

Everypony was now at Fluttershy's bedroom, which had its own fireplace and plenty of small-animal dwellings, a bookcase, and various bits of artwork. Bloom and Scootaloo were thoroughly discontented. Sweetie stood by the footboard, also not too jazzed at the prospect of turning in.

"How are we gonna find our special talent in our sleep?", Bloom complained.

Fluttershy flew up and blew out a candle on the mantelpiece, leaving the room dark. "Maybe you'll have a lovely little dream about your special talent."

"But we're not even tired!", Scootaloo said, all of them now tucked in by Chronicle, who then nipped the blanket in with his teeth as Fluttershy joined in.

"How about I sing you a lullaby?", she suggested.

"Yeah!", agreed the unicorn Crusader.

"Mmm-hmm!", said the other two in unison with her.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, then came a slow quiet music-box tune in A flat major.

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=gw8ueBXZYog)

_Now Playing: Hush Now Lullaby_

_Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head_

Bloom and Scootaloo started to nod off, but Sweetie stayed wide awake.

_Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed_

_End Song_

"I know this one!", Sweetie cried out.

"Oh, how wonderful! Why don't you sing it with me?"

The little unicorn nodded, coughed a bit, startling her two cohorts out of their half-doze, and threw them a knowing smile before standing up in the bed. The other two crusaders put hooves over their ears, apparently knowing what's about to go down.

C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB

Outside…

The four Chronicle clones standing guard outside were mildly startled at the sound of loud music. (2)

"I wonder what they're doing at this hour?", one of them asked.

"I have no buckin' clue.", said another.

"Why are we even speaking to each other?", asked a third.

"He started it.", the fourth pointed to the first.

"Well, he talked back."

"Could we just stop? We're all extensions of the same pony." The second.

"Hey—" The third.

"And don't start with the cloning blues." Fourth.

"Aww, come on." Second.

"Let's just shut up and quit while we're ahead." Third.

"I'm with you there." Fourth. "The real us is going to know about this."

"Ugh." First.

The avian residents of the chicken coop in the backyard were spooked into a full panic from the song and they started squawking. The closest two clones noticed this.

C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C

Back at the bedroom…

Bloom and Scootaloo have dived under the covers, but the latter looked up at the sound of the panicked flock. "What is that?", she asked.

Fluttershy and the real Chronicle meanwhile fixed everything that had fallen off due to the song. They then turned back to see that the bed was empty, then the unicorn got a small migraine. One of his clones had been tackled and dissipated, its memories coming to him.

"They're outside at the backyard.", he said as he turned on the light.

Fluttershy didn't ask him how he knew and looked out the window instead to verify his words. "Girls!"

Indeed they were there. Presumably, they were why he has three copies left.

"Fluttershy, your chickens are on the loose!", Bloom said.

"I wonder what could have caused that.", Sweetie said pensively.

Bloom and Scootaloo glanced disgustedly at her.

"Are you really that dumb?", asked one of the Chronicle clones nearby. "YOUR singing did it."

Scootaloo then addressed the window. "Don't worry, Fluttershy!" She then gave a salute. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders will handle this!"

"Cutie Mark Crusader chicken herders!", said the unicorn Crusader as all three raced off. "Yaaaaay!"

"No…I don't think that's a…come back!", Fluttershy stuttered. At the fenced-off chicken yard, the fillies were chasing the birds back and forth. "Please…" Fluttershy took off from the window and landed in the yard while the real Chronicle teleported there. "Come on, girls, the chickens are fine…oh…girls…" One of the chickens roosted on her head and another on his horn; this move, coupled with Sweetie's lunge toward it, finally made the animal caretaker blow her cool. "Girls!"

All three stopped in their tracks, Scootaloo and one chicken peeking out from beneath the ramp that leads to the coop entrance. Chronicle clicked his tongue in warning to the Crusaders. "You wouldn't like Fluttershy when she's angry."

This also got the chickens on the two grown-ups to drop to the ground, much to the stallion's mild surprise, then Fluttershy gently nudged several back toward the coop. "Come on…" The little birds stopped on the ramp. "…in you go…" Upon receiving a chorus of uncooperative cackling that annoyed her considerably, she leaned in with her eyes wide open, giving the poultry a good view of a surprisingly intense gaze.

Chronicle gulped at the sight of the chickens' noise giving way to frightened little squawks as they slowly back up the ramp while the Crusades watched, dumbstruck. He hasn't ever been on its receiving end before, but he just knew that this was the so-called "Stare".

Fluttershy gave them a final one-eyed dose to persuade them to enter the coop, where three briefly got stuck abreast in the entrance before popping in. After they have done so, she resumed her usual sweet demeanor. "There's some good chickens." She then turned to the Crusaders. "Okay. You three. Isn't it about time you got into bed?"

"But—", they began to protest.

"Please?" Behind her, Chronicle made a couple of frightful gestures to tell them to do as she says. He wasn't really frightened; but hopefully showing that he was (given his reputation as a very brave pony) would persuade them. Thankfully, it did. The Crusaders dropped their heads sadly, getting a little smile from Fluttershy in return.

C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB

Back at the bedroom…

The light was out, and the Crusaders were tucked back in and Fluttershy was on her way out. Chronicle was downstairs fixing things up, and shortly went to sleep on the couch.

"So, no more crusading for tonight, all right?", she said.

"Yes, Fluttershy!", replied Scootaloo.

"We promise, Fluttershy!" Sweetie.

"Good night, Fluttershy!" Bloom. They then closed their eyes.

"Okay. Good night." She then exited the room to relax right next to Chronicle on the couch, making sure not to disturb him, not that it takes little to do so.

C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB—C—AB—F—S—SB

In the dreamscape…

Chronicle was reminiscing a past event.

It was a day in Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns. Since there haven't been any new spells to implement in the lesson plan, Mystic had to come up with a couple more ideas. After a casual chat with Elphaba Trot (3), the teacher of the karate dojo, he decided to implement physical maneuvers in his lesson plan.

"All right, class.", he announced. "We have a new lesson. Today, we'll be doing a physical exercise. Chronicle, help me demonstrate."

Ushering the class to the side, Mystic went to the center of the room and 'held up' a stick. Chronicle had went to one corner of the mat, then made a running start. Just as he reached the levitated stick, he jumped over it, rolled, did a one-eighty upon landing, and conjured a barrier instantly.

"I call this the quick response. Sometimes you're on the run and you simply can't turn around or blindly make a force field around yourself. Or maybe there's an obstacle ahead that can buy you some time from your pursuer. There can be any number of reasons this maneuver can be useful. You just have to use your imagination. Plus, I figured we all need some form of physical exercise. There's always a time when running is your best choice."

And so this jump-roll-turn-and-shield routine became an integral part in the lesson plan. (4) At present, few unicorns are getting the hang of it. Greatstone and Heartstrings were the only ones apart from the teachers to get it easily. Still—

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

He was interrupted from his dream by a couple of generous kicks on from a certain bunny.

"Thank goodness.", Fluttershy's voice rang in his ears as he opened his eyes. "I thought you would never wake."

"Well, I am a deep sleeper. Why'd you wake me?", he asked as he followed her out of the cottage and into the backyard.

"I noticed the place was quiet. Too quiet. And when I checked the bed, the girls were gone."

"What? Just how did they get past my clones?" As they looked around, they could not find any trace of Chronicle's clones. "They can't have dissipated. I would've known first thing like a splash of cold water to my face."

As they then reached the coop, Fluttershy peeked in it. "Girls?", she called, then her eyes popped. "Elizabeak! She's missing!" She then looked back. "Girls?"

"Umm…" He gestured to a hole in the fence and tracks.

"Oh, no!" There were tracks leading off the property as well as a scrap of cloth on a post, which could only come from a Cutie Mark Crusader's cape judging by the golden silk. "They must have gone looking for my missing chicken!" The two of them trotted onto the tracks. "Which means…they must have gone into…" She gave a hard swallow and let her ears droop, her eyes contract, and her body shiver.

"The Everfree Forest!", Chronicle finished for her, then looked down on the tracks. "And it looks like my clones have followed them." The two then started trotting along the path leading into the forest.

"Those girls have really done it this time! They've really bitten off more than they can chew…" Fluttershy stopped for a bit. "…oh, just like me. I never should have offered to watch them."

"It's my fault too, Fluttershy. I haven't been putting as much effort on helping you as a true friend should, no matter how little experience I have with them. But now's not the time to go beating yourself up. Right now, we have to save Elizabeak and the Crusaders. Come on."

With that, he got moving. Behind him, Fluttershy took a deep breath, then put her wings to work and flew ahead, catching up with her braver unicorn friend, who gave a smile as she came up beside him.

C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F

Music: ( www . youtube watch? v=4MPN_7MmRQw # t=1m06s)

Eyecatch (picture-type) - The Everfree Forest looms on the left. Fluttershy and Chronicle begin to head towards it from the right, the former hovering a few inches, the latter with his horn glowing, and both with resolute glares. The show's logo is seen on the lower left. (5)

C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F

Further in the forest…

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, escorted by the three missing Chronicle clones, who were somehow convinced to come along rather than keep them in. Sweetie Belle was in the lead, Apple Bloom following, and Scootaloo bringing up the rear. The three clones covered their backs and sides as they all heard an owl hoot over their heads from a tree branch.

"Here, chick-chick-chick-chick-chick!", Bloom called, then squawked.

"What are you doing?", Scootaloo asked.

"Callin' for the chicken."

"That is not how you call a chicken."

"Oh, and you know how to call a chicken."

"I know that's not the way."

"Then show me." At this point, Sweetie had gone ahead as well as one of the three clones.

I don't have to show you!"

"You're just chicken."

"Am not!"

"Oh, wait! Now I know how to call a chicken!" Bloom then said the following in singsong SCOOTA-LOO-OO! SCOOT- SCOOTA-LOO-OO!"

The two as well as the other remaining clones stopped in front of a pitch-dark cavern, inside which quite a few glowing eyes opened due to Bloom's "call". As they moved ahead again, one of the clones gave a glare at the eyes and flared his horn.

"That's so funny I forgot to laugh!", snarked the addressed.

"I didn't.", the other clone said as he then laughed.

"You also forgot how to call a chicken.", Bloom said as she blew a raspberry.

"Why, you—"

"Come on, guys.", Sweetie called, a branch above her creaking in the wind. We're not gonna find the chicken or our cutie marks by arguing. She walked off just before it could seem to grab her.

"Maybe that's our special talent! Arguing!", said Bloom.

"Is not!", countered Scootaloo.

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!" Bloom turned to present her haunch. "Anything yet?"

"Nope."

"Darn!" The two Crusaders laughed in the wind, then carried on, Bloom continuing her call.

"You girls think of the weirdest things.", commented one of the clones.

AB—C—C—S—SB—C—AB—C—C—S—SB—C

Meanwhile…

Fluttershy was doing everything not to let nerves do her in, despite Chronicle being at her side. "Girls?" She gave a gulp. "Girls?" She huddled down with a little whimper as the wind kicked up. She flicked her eyes from side to side and then constricted in terror. She then let off a gasp as her friend got her on her feet again.

"Come on, Fluttershy. Get a hold of yourself.", he pleaded as the two moved on. "…just put one hoof in front of the other." Just then, he stepped on a fallen branch, the snapping sound causing his friend to yelp and back up.

"What was that?"

"Just a branch." She then bumped into a tree, screamed shrilly, and galloped ahead at full speed, leaving Chronicle in the dust. "Dammit!", he cussed as he went after her. At the path they were going, they could see Twilight's silhouette framed against the night sky. "Twilight? Is that you?"

A hopeful little smile played across both their faces as they reached the inky figure and stopped. While Chronicle stopped to catch his breath, blaming his quick fatigue on the paralysis he had a few hours ago, Fluttershy spoke. "Oh, Twilight, it is you! Thank goodness you're here. I need your help." Just then, the clouds drifted away from the moon so that its light shone full. "The girls are out here somewhere and I'm afraid that they're—" She cut herself off once enough of the moonlight had illuminated the unicorn's figure. As it turned out, she had been talking to a "statue" made of solid rock and happened to be in Twilight's likeness. Her terrified gasp caught Chronicle's attention and he gave a short yelp upon seeing the statue. "What's happened to you?"

"I have two theories behind this.", "One is that somepony had the bright idea to bring this statue here, although the expression of this one here could not have been maintained for such a long time. I'll have to ask Twilight later if she had posed for a sculptor before. The other is…" His mind flashed back to the moment his horn sparked and he felt stiff for a few seconds. "…is that Twilight had encountered something that inflicts petrification. There are only a few beasts that I know of that can do this. The gorgon, the basilisk if not looked at the eye directly (direct eye contact results in instant death), the Catoblepas, and one other beast whose name escapes me." _Luckily, I have a blindfold for these "stone gaze" kinds of creatures._

Fluttershy poked the statue and when it toppled over, she gave off a strangled cry. "Oh, no! If you've been turned to stone, it must mean…oh…oh, no! The girls!" She and Chronicle then took off ahead, then zipped back. "Don't move! I'll be back for you."

"Like she can go anywhere.", Chronicle told her as he then summoned yet another magical clone, feeling a bit woozy after. "Make sure nothing moves her.", he ordered, then he and Fluttershy took off, the latter to the air, leaving the unicorn to follow by ground.

"Girls!"

C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F—C—F

Back with the Crusaders and the clones…

As the group continued to follow the chicken tracks, Bloom and Scootaloo had resumed arguing on the subject on whether or not arguing is their special talent.

Finally, Sweetie had enough of this. "Girls!", she cried out and everypony stopped. "Our special talent is not arguing! Besides, what would the cutie mark of somepony whose talent is arguing even look like?"

"Who knows? But if there indeed is one, maybe you could be the first.", said one of the clones.

"Girls? Girls?", a familiar voice came.

"Fluttershy?" The mentioned pegasus landed in front of them.

"Girls!", another voice came.

"There's our boss." The real Chronicle arrived shortly after.

"Thank goodness we've found you!"

"Fluttershy, what—", Bloom began before the Crusaders were forced to step back.

"Girls, we have to leave the forest at once."

"But—we haven't found the chicken yet.", Sweetie pointed out.

"There's no time for that. There's a cockatrice on the loose!

"A cocka-what now?"

"A cockatrice! It's a frightening creature with the head of a chicken and the body of a snake. Now come on!"

"Oh, so that's that other one I wasn't able to name earlier.", Chronicle realized as he

"The head of a chicken and the body of a snake?", Sweetie parroted as she and the other Crusaders passed a gasping Fluttershy with a smile.

"That doesn't sound scary, that sounds silly.", remarked Scootaloo.

"Why, if I ever saw one of them cocka-thingies face to face, I'd laugh at how silly it was!", said Bloom before bumping into Chronicle without realizing it. The others stopped as well.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.", he warned. "Any beast from the Everfree Forest, no matter how much you want to laugh at it, is dangerous. Remember the parasprites? I'm sure you've seen what they can do. And another thing. Never look a cockatrice in the eye." Just then, a chicken, presumably the missing Elizabeak, ran out of a bush. "If you look a cockatrice in the eye—"

"The chicken!", Bloom interrupted him as she and the other Crusaders dashed after her.

"Girls! Wait!", Fluttershy cried out as she took off after them.

"Dammit, I think Zecora and our trips to the forest are a bad influence for them.", Chronicle said as he followed, his clones running ahead.

"Why do you say that?"

"From what other ponies had told me, nopony has ever ventured to the Everfree Forest because of the old suspicions on Zecora being an evil enchantress. That lessened when we ventured in there to look for the Elements of Harmony. And since discovering Zecora to be friendly, other ponies have been braving it. Still, it's a stretch for foals to brave it for any reason at all."

Ahead, as the Crusaders followed Elizabeak, with the three clones behind them, they suddenly stopped upon hearing a low guttural roar. Sweetie was the first to spot something. From a bush, a white feathered head protruded. "There he is!", she said.

An identical head then popped up. "Two chickens?", Scootaloo was confused now, as were the others.

"I-I thought only one escaped!", said Bloom.

"Grab them both!"

Bloom reached in for the snatch, but Elizabeak jumped clear and dropped out of sight. She then went for the other head as she stepped up to eye it closely. It whipped back into the bush, then rose again as she stared in bewilderment. The head was attached to a long, winged, snakelike body with a pair of chicken legs near the front end to allow for running movement. That same grating roar threw a genuine scare into the would-be poultry wranglers, and it opened its eyes fully to expose them as beady red orbs; the beak, filled with deadly pointed teeth, let off a raucous screech. One of the Chronicle clones was caught in its gaze and was petrified, but nopony noticed it.

Elizabeak was thrown into a noisy panic, running to and fro. When the cockatrice hit the ground, its glare petrified her in seconds. The stone bird dropped headfirst and ended up half-buried in the dirt, right in front of the Crusaders. As the beast turned its attention to them, they bailed out with a three-part scream, bumping into another of the clones as they fled with them, dissipating him on impact. Scootaloo, in the lead, stumbled on a rock and went down, taking the other two with her, but not the last one as he stopped short. They ended up inches from the toppled Twilight, whose face had been slimed by a passing snail. The three fillies gasped, the got up and looked her over, ready to jump right out of their hides.

"See?", Fluttershy said as she landed behind them. "Now we have to—" Her—and the real Chronicle's—sudden arrival startled them into a scream that almost ripped their manes off and started racing around them, also bumping into the clone left behind to watch over the petrified Twilight, dissipating him as a result. "Girls, please…girls…listen to me, girls, I, uh…please!" It was no good. She looked off in another direction, gasping as her eyes popped. Down the way, the cockatrice emerged from the bushes and started to close in.

Fluttershy quickly averted and covered her eyes. The remaining clone, who was facing away from the cockatrice, remained turned away. As for the real Chronicle, he 'produced' a blindfold from hammerspace and covered his eyes with it.

"Girls! Chronicle!", Fluttershy called. "Behind me, now!"

Everypony save the clone fell in before the caterwauling creature got within hoof's reach of Fluttershy. Risking a backward glance to make sure they were following orders, she inadvertently turned her eye toward the front. Before running into the Crusaders again, Chronicle had warned Fluttershy that he was not adept in fighting blind and would not be able to assist much.

With no warning, just as with the "dragon in the mountain" incident, as the cockatrice was about to lash out at the last clone, she let her voice lash out with a degree of anger that was a complete turnaround from her usual mild tone. "You!" The cockatrice backed up as she looked it straight on. "Just who do you think you are, going around turning others into stone?" Caught off guard, the cockatrice recovered, changed its target to her, and gave her both barrels. As Fluttershy continued, she was slowly being petrified from the tail forward.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! I have half a mind to find your mother and tell her what you've been up to, young man!" Sweating buckets, it dropped to the ground with a shocked gasp, then redoubled its effort. The last clone could see tht Fluttershy was supremely fed-up at this point. "Now you go over there and turn Elizabeak and my friend Twilight back to normal—" During this, she opened her eyes fully to give the cockatrice the same Stare she used on her chickens, giving off the same effect as before. "—and don't ever let me catch you doing this again!"

As the Crusaders' apprehensive looks turned to smiles, Fluttershy's stone transformation, which had spread to the entire rear half of her body, cracked away like an eggshell to leave a perfectly normal yellow pegasus. Some of the shards hit Chronicle on the side, but he didn't flinch. "Do you understand me?"

The cockatrice can only manage a timid little nod and sound of agreement, after which it ran yelping for the trees. The Crusaders watched it flee and Chronicle removed his blindfold, glad to see that nopony else had been petrified.

Fluttershy turned to the trio of fillies. "Are you girls all right? I was so worried."

"Yeah. Didn't your parents ever tell you not to go into the forest?", Chronicle scolded.

"Yeah, fine.", answered Scootaloo.

"Thanks to that Stare of yours.", Sweetie added, addressing Fluttershy as the pegasus Crusader leaned in.

"You're like the queen of Stares! You're the—" She was joined in by the other two Crusaders. "Stare Master!" They then backed off.

"We're sorry we snuck out of the house and into the forest."

"Yeah. We'll listen to you from now on.", said Bloom.

"We promise.", Scootaloo finished.

Fluttershy then playfully narrowed her eyes and said. "Oh, you do, do you? Well, you better, or I'll give you…the Stare!"

Turning her head sideways, she aimed one eye at them and succeeded in hypnotizing Scootaloo, much to her own surprise. Once the latter recovered from her trance, all six had a good laugh, the surviving clone glancing the cockatrice flee. Meanwhile, a dazed and back-to-normal Twilight walks up to them. "What…what happened?", she asked as she shook a bit.

"What happened is that you're not going off on your own ever again without me personally or a magical clone.", Chronicle stated as his once-petrified clone now brought back Elizabeak, who was squawking and flapping furiously, her upper half matted in dirt. "I may not take my job as bodyguard as rigidly as most, but I value the safety of my charges all the same."

C—TS—AB—F—S—SB—C—TS—AB—F—S—SB

The following morning…

As the Crusaders galloped by with a laugh, Chronicle and Fluttershy explained to Twilight last night's events. The three of them were seated on cushions at a table, having tea, the purple unicorn levitating a quill and scroll overhead to write up a report.

"And that's when it brought you back from stone.", Fluttershy finished.

"This is gonna make quite a letter to the Princess. I was wrong about you. You certainly do know how to handle those girls."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

"Hmm? How so?"

"I assumed that I'd be just as good with kids as I am with animals. Boy, was I wrong. I really learned the hard way not to bite off more than I could chew."

"You and Rarity both."

"She certainly did.", said Chronicle as his charge rolled up the scroll. "Speaking of which…" He glanced her walking up to them and said, "Good morning, Rarity."

"Did you finish all those capes?", Fluttershy asked.

Rarity gave a sigh of relief. "Just delivered them. "I have to admit, if you hadn't come along, I might not have." As she approached them, she nuzzled Fluttershy's cheek briefly. "Thanks again."

"Won't you stay for some tea?"

"I really must get back to the shop and clean up." She then turned to face the yard. "Girls, get your things. Time to go." The other two mares gave a shared smile, which was broken by urgency of Rarity's next words. As it was, the Crusaders were still playing. "Girls! Girls! Time…oh…girls! Your things!" Then with rising impatience. "Girls…it's time to…girls!"

Fluttershy stepped up. "Allow me." She proceeded to clear her throat. "Girls…"

They instantly fell quiet and fell in, one by one. "Yes, Fluttershy.", Bloom said.

"You called?" Scootaloo.

"Go and get your things. Rarity is here to see you home."

"Of course, Fluttershy!", said Sweetie. "Right away!" And they all zip off, leaving one full-grown and very puzzled white unicorn in their wake.

"H…how did you…how did you do that?", she asked.

Fluttershy just tipped a wink over her shoulder and got a big smile from Twilight. "I guess I'm just as good with kids as I am with animals."

"Took her a while to reach out to these ones though.", Chronicle added as the Crusaders galloped past, all wearing their saddlebags and shouting thanks to their unconventionally successful babysitters. "They are a very special case."

"Uh…speaking of which, I could use your help with Opal.", Rarity asked sheepishly as she walked a few paces ahead.

"Of course. How about later today?"

There was a loud, displeased yowl and Rarity turned to present her other flank to the others. Opal was there, with all four sets of claws dug in to attach herself firmly to the white hide. "How about…now?" She winced at the pain those claws were obviously causing her as her cat then gave a yowl and strained moan.

The two unicorns joined Fluttershy, then while the mares laughed softly, the stallion just gave a knowing groan. "Next time, let Skyla give the Crusaders a try. I wanna see how she will fare with these."

"Yeah.", Rarity agreed. "I guess. Although we'll have to ask Applejack as well as Scootaloo's—"

"I get it, I get it. Well…" (6) He turned to Fluttershy. "I should be going, then. Hopefully, Mystic Shield's all better. Also, I forgot to fetch something for Spike from—"

"I know just what to give him.", Sweetie's older sister cut him off. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Sure."

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) The "somepony who has moved from Cloudsdale", named Skyla, will be introduced in the "Sonic Rainboom" chapter, which takes place before "A Dog and Pony Show" and after "Fall Weather Friends". It will be written after this chapter. "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and "Winter Wrap Up" will be written after that.  
(2) Yeah, I skipped Sweetie Belle's version of the song, because I'm a dick sometimes.  
(3) Elphaba Trot is a name I picked up in the MLP Wiki. She's one of the more obscure background ponies.  
(4) I've been taking aikido and it's the inspiration for the rolling routine.  
(5) Another slight move of the eyecatch, just like from the second chapter.  
(6) I cut Rarity off because I don't want to conflict with any upcoming canon of Scootaloo's caretakers, be they parents (foster or otherwise) or an orphanage.

nightelf37: See ya on Third!


	21. Bonus 2: Japanese Opening Theme

nightelf37 walks in with a sheet of paper and makes his way to a pulpit and stood behind it.

"Readers, this is nightelf37, writer of this fanfic. This here is another "AMV in script form". I plan to 'write' the Japanese opening theme of the show (with my OCs implemented of course)."

Pinkie Pie pops out from behind him.

"OC**s**?"

"You'll see. You guys might want to read the rest of the fic before this chapter so far to understand some of the OC-featuring scenes. Now let's sit back and enjoy."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!"

"Note: Seiyuu names are typed in surname first, then given name."

_Now Playing: Mirai Start by Mimori Suzuko_

{scene opens to reveal the "Twinkling Balloon" in front of the daytime sky, with Twilight Sparkle, Chronicle, and Spike as its passengers}

_Dakara Hi Hi Hi! shiawase ga _

{Twilight looks around from the balloon as it descends into the clouds}

_Kitto Hi Hi Hi! utaidasu _

{cut to Rainbow Dash making loop-de-loop as the 'camera' zooms into Ponyville and enters tunnel vision, and exits it to show the balloon touching down and Twilight jumping off it just before it lands; cut to her face as she brightens up while Chronicle catches up with her}

_Kagayaiteru kono kisetsu ni _

{camera turns around to show their friends ahead: (left to right) Pinkie Pie hops in place, Rarity makes a charming pose, Applejack looks ahead with one foreleg crossed over the other, Fluttershy simply looks cute as she looks sidelong at the camera, and Rainbow flies in and stops just above the four; shift to a series of scenarios: Applejack giving a smile in the barn, Rarity gasping in excitement with a purple backdrop behind her, Rainbow speaking in excitement next to a barn, Fluttershy in the library blushing as she speaks, Pinkie turning from the left to the 'camera', then of Chronicle in front of a large version of his cutie mark turning to the 'camera' and drawing his 'magic horn blade'}

_mune ga mune ga odoru no _

{he slashes down, blinding the 'camera' as it flashes into Twilight looking up with determination, then cut to the to-be-keepers as they were gathered when the Elements were revealing themselves with a bright sphere glowing above them; the sphere then expands it shine to blind the 'screen' again}

_(short instrumental)_

{when the light fades, reveal a scene of Ponville with Canterlot in the distance; camera zooms out as the title spin-reveals itself and the bottom pops out; the show's title has an added yellow box above reading (in kanji, translating into romaji) "Kiroku no Shizuno"; background then fades into a simple faded ringed backdrop}

_tomaranai _

{scene of the sun shining brightly in a clear sky during the day, then tilt down toward ground level to reveal Twilight walking through a tree-lined stretch of Ponyville, with Spike on her back and Chronicle to her right}

_doki doki wa hajimari no aizu _

_Twilight Sparkle_

_JAP Voice: Sawashiro Miyuki_

_ENG Voice: Tara Strong_

_Chronicle_

_JAP Voice: Takeuchi __Junko_  


_ENG Voice: Alanna Ubach_

{split of two different scenes onward, the right one shows Twilight while the left shows Chronicle; she gives a smile to the 'camera' as she faces it with her horn glowing as she faces forward, while he lowers a contract he has signed; she tries to excuse herself from challenging Trixie while he does a facehoof while inside Fluttershy's cottage; she peruses a book and 'flips' its pages while he clashes a sword he's levitating to his own "horn blade"; she smiles as she talks while glancing to the window on her right while he glances to his left to the 'camera' after looking at the Request Board}

_sarigenaku mitsumetara mimi ga atsuku naru no yo _

_Pinkie Pie_

_JAP Voice: Mimori Suzuko_

_ENG Voice: Andrea Libman_

{shift through the following scenes; Pinkie letting off a giggle, then of her commentating on the balloon, then to her talking during the Summer Sun Celebration, and then of her bawling in tears from the two Princesses' reunion, then recovering quickly}

_hajimete no waku waku ni tomadoi no merodi _

_Rainbow Dash_

_JAP Voice: Kitta Izumi_

_ENG Voice: Ashleigh Ball_

{shift through the following scenes; Rainbow bursting through a cloud and showing herself off, then of her in the library saying something daring, then of her seen through a hole in the clouds with the sun framing her like a halo, then of her proclaiming something of herself with an audience in the background, and then of her napping on a cloud}

_watashi kara koe kakeru chansu ga hoshikute _

_Applejack_

_JAP Voice: Tokui Sora_

_ENG Voice: Ashleigh Ball_

{shift through the following scenes; Applejack walking along a line of square buckets piled with seeds while explaining, then of her introduction scene (running to a tree, bucking it, then putting a foreleg in front of the other), and then of her catching and chewing an apple in her mouth before swallowing it}

_houkago no hirusagari futoshita guuzen ga _

_Rarity_

_JAP Voice: Sasaki Mikoi_

_ENG Voice: Tabitha St. Germain_

{shift through the following scenes; Rarity tying a ribbon to a post indoors, then of her turning back just before leaving the Carousel Boutique, and then of her telling about her fantasy for the Grand Galloping Gala}

_anata to watashi no mirai wo kaeru? _

_Fluttershy_

_JAP Voice: Kato Emiri_

_ENG Voice: Andrea Libman_

{shift through the following scenes; Fluttershy conducting for the birds to sing, then of her standing in awe as birds land on her head, and then of a younger version of her as nature's creatures surround her}

_oshiete _

_Princess Celestia_

_JAP Voice: Inoue Kikuko_

_ENG Voice: Nicole Oliver_

{shift to a scene of Celestia in her room, levitating a letter and ink bottle to herself as the 'camera' zooms out, then to a close up of her face as she reads it}

_nee oshiete! _

_Spike_

_JAP Voice: Kumai Motoko_

_ENG Voice: Cathy Weseluck_

_Mystic Shield_

_JAP Voice: Kishio __Daisuke_  


_ENG Voice: Christopher Sabat_

{shift to a split scene; on the right is Spike reading a letter while inside Twilight's old place and on the left is Mystic glancing to his right to the 'camera' after looking at the Request Board}

{right - Spike sends a letter to the Princess, left - Mystic expands his force field while in the Carousel Boutique}

_sonna Hi Hi Hi! shiawase ni _

{scene of Rainbow circling her forelegs around Pinkie and Rarity's necks, then of Pinkie and the rest of Twilight's to-be-friends in her welcome party, and then of Fluttershy just outside the dragon cave, with the other five mares and Chronicle (below Rainbow) popping out from behind her}

_kitto Hi Hi Hi! tsutsumarete _

{scene of the 'camera' turning to frame Twilight's face in the front right with Spike at the back left wearing a mustache, then to Chronicle being pushed back to the left as Nightmare Moon shoved him off and he lands on his feet}

_nanimokamo ga ureshikunaru watashi wo uketomete _

{scene of Rarity saying her thanks to Hoity Toity as her friends stand behind her and the 'camera' zooms out as she turned to look at them, then to Chronicle 'flash-stepping' away from the 'camera' as Rainbow Dash passes his way}

_dakara Hi Hi Hi! shiawase ga _

{he then gets pounced by Pinkie Pie; scene of him doing a backflip after winning an event, then of him and Mystic Shield relaxing on massage tables as the spa twins did their work}

_kitto Hi Hi Hi! utaidasu _

{scene of Twilight walking forward as her friends and Mystic Shield stand in line before embarking to the mountain, then of ponies in Ponyville running to a celebration}

_kagayaiteru kono kisetsu ni _

{scene of Twilight as she listens to Celestia's decree, then of Chronicle doing a sad smile as he stands among the crowd, and then of the others as the 'camera' pans across them}

_mune ga mune ga odoru no _

{shot of all of them, the speaking Celestia, and more of the crowd as the 'camera' zooms out}

_mirai mirai mirai e! _

{'camera' zooms out from Twilight as her friends are ranged around her; scene of Chronicle 'drawing' his "horn blade" in the dreamscape; then of a three by three grid of gold-bordered rectangles instantly forming, from left to right and top to bottom are the following with their interiors colored in the coats of their occupants: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Mystic Shield, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Chronicle, Applejack, Rarity, Spike (green backdrop)}

{Twilight teleports into a scene that is a fair distance from the library, then the 'camera' zooms out to reveal the rest of the gang; to the right are Applejack and Fluttershy, to the left are Pinkie, Rarity, and Chronicle, and above those two is Rainbow; as the other five mares edge closer to Twilight, Chronicle lowers his head and body and looks ready to charge as he gives a grin; fade to a clearer zoom out of the library, then fade to black}

_End Song_

A movie projector turns off, revealing to have played the opening theme.

"Note that any assigned voices of my original characters are not present-accurate. I'm imagining Alanna's voice as the one for the titular character of the series _El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera_. Junko Takeuchi is best known for her role as Naruto's VA. And yes, both of Chronicle's VAs are girls. Daisuke Kishio voices Kaito Dōmoto from _Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch_ and Leo/Loke from _Fairy Tail_. Christopher Sabat voices William Rush from _Time Crisis 4_."

"Wow! You promoted Mystic Shield to the opening titles!", Pinkie Pie says.

"Yes. I figured he has as much precedence to my story as Spike is. Maybe less, maybe more. Depends on where Chronicle is at the moment."

"See ya on Third! And I still don't know what that means."


	22. Chapter 16: Sonic Rainboom

nightelf37: This chapter takes place before "A Dog and Pony Show" and after "Fall Weather Friends".

Disclaimer: I own only the following: My originally designed OCs, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 16: Sonic Rainboom**

In the Golden Oaks Library…

Chronicle had overslept and could not be woken up even if Spike would poke his rump. When he finally rose, he found that the was now alone in the upper floor. Deciding not to go down just yet, he activated Surveillance. He decided to check on Fluttershy, and saw that she was standing out in the meadow with Rainbow Dash, who was pacing in mid-air behind her. He 'opened' a second "window" in his device and he was now looking through Rainbow's camera as well.

"Now, what have we learned?", he heard the sky blue pegasus say.

"Lots of control.", the other replied.

"Good."

"Screaming and hollering."

"Yes. And most importantly?"

"Passion."

_Are they talking about what I think they're talking about?_

"Right!" Rainbow then landed in front of Fluttershy. "So now that you know the elements of a good cheer, let's hear one!"

_Oh. They're not._

The soft-spoken pegasus inhaled a bushel of air and let it go on a single word… "Yay." …that was is no louder than her usual speaking voice, causing Rainbow to put a hoof over her own face with a disgusted groan.

"You're gonna cheer for me like that? Louder."

"Yay." This was barely louder than the last one.

"Louder!"

"Yay." This was a bit louder, but not enough.

"LOUDER!", Rainbow then shouted with such force the camera on her actually shuddered a bit.

This time, Fluttershy sucked in every molecule of air her lungs will hold and cut loose. "Yaaay." Only a bit louder than her previous attempt. This time, Rainbow not only groaned and covered her face, but keeled over backward. "Too loud?"

Chronicle gave a groan and decided to check on the others and nearly balked; everypony else was in the library sorting out the shelves, although Spike was missing. The camera on him was working when he checked, but all he was getting was static. Just then, as he 'closed' all the 'rectangles' showing the others, he glimpsed somepony he hadn't seen before.

In the bushes in view of his camera on Fluttershy was a mare whose coat was white as a ghost. Her eyes were baby blue, and her mane was baby pink, which was held up in a very light yellow bandanna, which looked like the ones the spa twins wear. However, her eyes were not on Fluttershy, but on somepony in the sky. He then came to the only other conclusion; this pony was watching Rainbow Dash. But why was she hiding like that?

Adjusting the 'rectangles' so that they were side-by-side, he kept one eye on the "spy" and the other on Rainbow.

At the right 'screen', said pegasus was now standing on a cloud, a moving bank of them a few paces away. At the left, Fluttershy was looking up and so was the "spy".

"Yay.", said the former.

Rainbow took a a deep breath, bounced on the cloud as if it were a diving board, and plunged into space. She pulled up just short of the ground and buzzed through the flowers, streaking the air with her multicolored mane. "And now, Phase One of my routine.", she said to herself.

Phase One consisted a close slalom through a row of trees, followed by a straightaway run that blew Fluttershy's (and the "spy"'s) hair sideways.

"Ooooh.", said Fluttershy while the spy gave a light smile.

Rainbow gained altitude and stopped. "Phase Two." This phase consisted of her diving toward a large cloud and flying tight circles around it, causing it to spin in place. As she did the same to two others before zipping away, Chronicle was impressed with how fast Surveillance's cameras can go to catch up with her.

On the ground, Fluttershy's eyes had started turning in opposite directions to follow them all, but she quickly shook some sense into herself. As for the "spy", she retained her focus all the way.

"Way to go."

Rainbow climbed again. "Here we go…Phase Three. The Sonic Rainboom!"

"The Sonic Rainboom?", the spy said out loud to herself, but Fluttershy was too focused on her friend to notice.

Once the sky blue pegasus reached an appropriately extreme height, she cut a couple of vertical loops and went into a screaming dive, one foreleg extended to cut the air resistance. The wind peeled her lips back from her teeth and plastered her mane to her skull, and a rounded wave front formed in front of her due to the sheer speed and started to build.

Chronicle was surprised to see that he could see the mach cone, waving it off as being filtered by the cameras.

"Come on…" Both sides of the wave front stretched as if made of elastic; now every extra foot that she flwe caused more resistance to build up. Eventually, she stopped dead in midair, unable to punch through. "Uh-oh." She was flung backward and out of sight, screaming all the while, and while Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth worriedly, the "spy" drooped her ears and took off, revealing her to be a pegasus. It also showed her tail, which was unruly like Rainbow's but colored a solid baby pink, and a cutie mark depicting a single tornado like the ones on Dizzy Twister.

He wasn't able to figure out more since Fluttershy was on the move and soon the "spy" was out of sight. Setting the incident behind him for now, he turned off Surveillance and put it away, deciding to head downstairs. Rather than jump down from where his bed was to the floor below, he decided to take it slow and walked down the stairs—noting that it needed a bannister—and casually made his way to the door.

Just as he opened it, he heard a crash down ahead that kicked up enough dust to reach him. He coughed from the dust, then continued down as it cleared. By the time he could see the ground floor, he could see that all the books have tumbled off the shelves and Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity were sprawled out on top of them.

As his charge lifted her head, her mouth jammed full of scrolls, the two earth ponies popped their heads up from the scatter before Fluttershy flew in through the window further down the stairs to the left. "Rainbow Dash, you rock. Woo-hoo.", she said before taking in the disaster area with a soft gasp. "Did my cheering do that?"

"Nope.", Chronicle said as he walked down. "It was like this when you entered. I'm guessing **somepony** else was the cause." One rule of his agreement concerning his Surveillance forbid him to relay to the other four what the two pegasi were doing at the time without their permission.

Rainbow stood up with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry about that, ladies.", she said to the others before saying the next sentence with an annoyed tone. "That was a truly feeble performance."

"Actually, it wasn't all bad. I particularly liked it when you made the clouds spin.", Fluttershy replied.

Rainbow gave an angry sigh. "I'm not talking about my performance, I'm talking about **yours**! That feeble cheering!"

"What are you two arguing about?", Twilight asked.

"Were we arguing? I'm sorry.", Fluttershy said as Chronicle walked up next to her.

Rainbow gave another sigh and turned to the other girls. "I wish you guys could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Flyer Competition."

"What's that?", Twilight asked again.

Pinkie gave the answer in an excited manner. "It's where all the greatest pegasus flyers get together and show off their different flying styles." She reared up. "Some are fast!" She raced around the room, throwing books here and there as she swerved about, then stopped to balance on one front and one rear hoof. "And some are graceful!"

Judging from the way she yelled and stumbled across the floor before crashing down, she certainly is not. At least around these books.

Applejack turned to face Rainbow. "Gol-lee. I'd love to see you strut your stuff in that competition."

"Yeah. I wish you guys could be there. Fluttershy's a great support, but her cheering isn't exactly inspirational."

Pinkie stood up, an open book on her head. "Ooh! I'd love to see you make a Sonic Rainboom! It's, like, the most coolest thing ever!" She then jumped in place the book falling off. "Even though I've never actually seen it, but I mean, come on, it's a Sonic Rainboom!" Applejack and Rarity had followed her movements with noticeable puzzlement, and Twilight wasn't doing any better. "How not cool could it possibly not be?"

"What's a Sonic Rainboom?", Twilight then asked.

"Seriously?", Chronicle asked her in turn. "For a well-read mare, you know so little of the outside world. Even I know what it is thanks to a book."

Pinkie then leaned into the bookish unicorn's face. "You really need to get out more." She jumped up to a loft. "The Sonic Rainboom is legendary! When a pegasus like Rainbow Dash gets going so fast…" She jumped over the edge and plunged into the piled books, landing hard enough to clear a space on the floor. "…BOOM! A sonic boom and a rainbow can happen all at once!"

"And I read that there are other Special Sonic Booms as well. Like a Fireboom, a Thunderboom, a Frostboom, and even something called a Whispering Yay Woosh. But the Sonic Rainboom's is the stuff of legend and is the most well-known." He then mumbled, "Personally, I think the Woosh is awesome."

"And Rainbow Dash here's the only pony to ever pull it off.", Applejack finished.

Rainbow played it off. "It was a long time ago. I was just a filly."

"Yeah, but you're gonna do it again, right?", Pinkie said.

This inquiry left the pegasus flat-hoofed for a second, but she gradually recovered her usual braggadocio, but Chronicle and one other pony noticed. "Are you kidding? I'm the greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale. I could do Sonic Rainbooms in my sleep!"

"Wow! If you pull that off, you'll win the crown for sure!", Twilight said.

"The grand prize is an entire day with the Wonderbolts! A whole day of flying with my lifelong heroes. It'll be a dream come true!"

Fluttershy gave off a weak "Yay." Chronicle just smacked himself on the face.

The blue flying ace, threw her a fed-up look and then turned back to the rest. "I'm gonna go rest up. Don't want to over-prepare myself, you know?" She then gave a brief laugh, then rounded on Fluttershy. "You, on the other hand, better keep practicing!" She trotted toward the window. "I need a cheering section to match my spectacular performance." With that, she flew out over the balcony and away.

Back inside, Fluttershy turned despondently toward the room. "She's practiced that move a hundred times, and she's never even come close to doing it. I don't know if I can cheer loud enough to help her." She then flew out the window as well.

"Well, guess we better get this cleaned up.", Twilight sighed. "Again." She then proceeded to levitate a book.

"Just where is Spike, anyway?", Chronicle said as he joined them.

"Have you forgotten?"

The unicorn stallion tapped his head with a hoof to try and remember, then that was what happened. "Oh, right. Now I remember where he is."

As it was, Mystic Shield had decided to go on a field trip to a place (its name he couldn't remember) beyond Whitetail Wood with his class and requested Twilight that he needed Spike for this. Chronicle didn't join them due to his contract requiring him to protect his charge, and Twilight was too busy studying to join. Others didn't come as well, including Heartstrings as she was still recovering a bit from her bipedal running during the Running of the Leaves. That was a week ago. They were bound to return in two days from now.

Just then, Rarity poked his charge in the rump with her horn, jerking her body and forcing her to 'drop' the book. "Go on, go on."

"Go on, what?"

"Find a spell that will get us wingless ponies into Cloudsdale. Didn't you see how nervous she was?"

"I did.", Chronicle said as he began to sort out books.

Applejack however didn't see it. "Nervous? Have you spit your bit or somethin'? She was tootin' her own horn louder than the brass section of a marchin' band."

"Oh, puh-lease. I've put on enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it. We've got to find a way to be there for her." Rarity then slammed Twilight away with her rump. "Now go on!"

The pony on the receiving end fetched up in a pile of books and stuck her head out of it with a loud groan. "How am I supposed to find a flight spell in this mess?"

"A flight spell? One sec.", Pinkie said as she zipped away and returned an instant later, carrying a book in her teeth which she tossed across the room. "Page twenty-seven."

On these words, the book landed in front of Twilight, open, and she magically flipped the pages.

"How'd you do that?", Applejack asked.

"It landed on my face when Rainbow Dash knocked me into the bookcase."

"Here it is!", Twilight announced as she levitated the book. "A spell that will allow earth ponies to fly for three days." She then walked ahead with it. "Ooh…it looks really difficult. I'm not sure I can do it."

"You've got to try!", Rarity pleaded.

"Okay."

"I think, 'non-pegasus ponies' would be a more accurate term.", Chronicle commented as he put away another book, then looked over. "Glimmer Wings, huh?"

"It's specifically for earth ponies, although I think unicorn ponies can be targeted without problems. But who's gonna volunteer to be the test subject?"

An uneasy look passed between the two earth ponies—clearly neither of them was hot to pull guinea-pig duty.

Rarity lowered her eyebrows determinedly, then spoke up before Chronicle could. "I will! For Rainbow Dash, I will go first."

"I **was** going to volunteer, but she beat me to it.", he said. "Can't you do both of us?"

"Sorry, but it looks like this spell uses a lot of magic. And I'm not sure if supplying me with yours can help. I was still strained after that Ursa Minor incident even with you providing me your magic, even if I did feel like I could cast some more."

"All right."

"Here goes."

Twilight lowered the book and she got her horn going in fourth gear with a strained grunt. Ribbons of brilliant blue light began to wind around Rarity's motionless form and contract toward her. As Twilight gave it her all, the white unicorn was slowly lifted free of the ground and enveloped from head to tail like a caterpillar forming a cocoon. Finally, a ball of light emerged from the violet unicorn's horn and floated slowly across until it was halfway between the two. Here, it stopped and emitted a blinding white flash that threw everypony back.

Once it faded, everypony got up, very woozy and unsteady on their legs. A pattern of multicolored light spot then projected itself in the room. Twilight smiled and the others gasp happily at the sight. "I think it worked." Rarity now had a pair of multicolored, translucent butterfly-like wings.

"Sure did.", Chronicle agreed. "I want to learn that spell too." He earned a funny look from the others. "What? Wings are wings, and until I can somehow find a way to get temporary bird-like wings, preferably pegasus wings, these'll have to do."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—?—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—?

Eyecatch (video-type) - The show's logo appears in the center of the screen, then multicolored, translucent butterfly-like wings emerge from behind it as if opened. (1)

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

En route to Cloudsdale…

Taking a balloon that was used during the Running of the Leaves, Twilight Sparkle and the others made their way to Cloudsdale. Rarity had gone on ahead, wanting to "try out her new duds" as Chronicle put it.

He discovered that the balloon had come from Cherry Berry, who also happened to be a skilled hot air balloon pilot. Aside from selling cherries in the marketplace, she rents hot air balloons (under Twinkling Balloon Services) for others to use.

Right now, he could see another of those balloons far ahead, and he thought he could see three familiar faces. As well as one new one, but he wasn't able to pay it much mind as they all began to stare in awe at the sight ahead. Chronicle had already seen it a few times before, but it still got him every time.

Cloudsdale was up ahead, an entire city built in the sky, made of clouds, had rainbow waterfalls in places, and was breathtakingly spectacular. "Cloudsdale…", he sighed. "So nice to visit again."

"Again?", asked Applejack.

"Later, once we meet up with the others. Wouldn't want to explain my story twice."

"All right." A minute later, they were nearing their friends' location. Already they could hear their voices from above.

"Why so shocked?", they heard Rarity say. "We couldn't leave our favorite flyer without a big cheering section."

"We?", they then heard Rainbow Dash say.

"That's our cue.", said Pinkie. At once, their balloon ascended and broke through the clouds. All four ponies saw their pegasi friends—accompanied by Rarity—give smiles upon seeing them.

"I…I can't believe it!", Rainbow managed to say.

"It's incredible!", said Fluttershy as the balloon touched down. Ordinary ones would've broken through, but all of Cherry Berry's balloons have their baskets (in case it tips over) coated with a special material that allows it to sit on clouds safely. As it was, Cloudsdale clouds are different from those created through the natural water cycle.

"This is so cool! You guys made it!"

"Sure did!", agreed Pinkie as she and Chronicle hopped over the side.

Rainbow's good cheer instantly gave way to sheer panic. "WAIT!" The eight hooves made contact with the clouds but did not fall through, instead sinking in slightly as if the two were standing on a mattress. Pinkie gave a huge grin, leaving all three flyers greatly confused. Twilight and Applejack did likewise a moment later. "How'd you do that? Only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds."

"Pretty cool, huh?", Pinkie giggled as she turned cartwheels.

"I found a spell that makes temporary wings.", Twilight explained. But it was too difficult to do more than once. So I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds."

"I taught her the spell. Very useful."

"You did?", asked Fluttershy.

"Uh-huh. I've actually been to Cloudsdale before. It was during one of my previous contracts."

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

"A Canterlot noble named Perry Pierce had requested me to escort his prestigious pegasus son to a school there."

_Chronicle and his client were sitting in opposite ends of a desk, discussing the terms of his contract. There was a window to their left showing Princess Celestia's setting sun. The then-freelancer 'took' the contract and started reading it._

"Hey, is this Perry guy related to Pokey Pierce?"

"Please do not interrupt, Pinkie. Although now that I think of it, I'm starting to wonder if they are."

_Chronicle then 'put down' the contract on the desk and said. "You want me to escort your prestigious pegasus child to school?"_

_"Yes. That's right.", Perry answered._

_"And the school is in Cloudsdale?"_

_"Yes. That's right."_

_"And he's got…bully issues."_

_"Yes. That's right."_

_"I appreciate the job offer, but… You do know I'm a unicorn pony, right?"_

_"Yes. That's right."_

_"And you know that only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds without falling through, right?"_

_"Yes. That's right."_

_"Then why ask for my services if I will be unable to perform them just because of my race?"_

_His face then changed expressions. "Because I know of no pegasus who can perform this job. And if there is, I'm short of time to look for them."_

_"…All right. But how do I get to Cloudsdale and stay up there without constantly staying on some sort of aircraft?"_

_"I have something to handle that."_

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

"And so, along with the job, he taught me the spell that grants me the ability to walk on clouds."

"But there's still that 'Magic Sickness' issue.", Twilight said. "How did you get around that?"

"Well, it was cast on me by his assistant who took me and the child there. It's quite a long story. Maybe I can tell you another time." He then turned to face Rainbow. "Anyway, what's important is that we're now here in Cloudsdale."

"And we came to cheer you to victory.", Applejack finished.

"To be honest, I was starting to get just the teeniest, tiniest bit nervous.", Rainbow admitted. Chronicle rolled his eyes at this. "But I feel a lot better now that you guys are here. Hey! We've got some time before the competition. Why don't Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsdale?"

There was enthusiastic agreement from the other four mares, while the sole stallion in the group just gave a curt nod. Before they started walking, he turned to Applejack and said. "Could you pause for a minute? There's something I need to do."

"What?"

He flared his horn and a magical clone appeared atop her back. "Last time I did this, my clone fell through the clouds. Very awkward. As it turns out, spell effects don't get copied." He then cast the cloud walking-spell and when the clone jumped off, he landed safely.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

Later…

As the group neared the top of a ridge, Rainbow announced, "Here it is. The greatest city in the sky!"

While everypony else save Fluttershy made expressions of awe, Chronicle and his clone looked on calmly as they saw a vista ahead. They could also see a few familiar faces from Ponyville.

Rainbow looked ahead with a healthy dose of civic pride, which quickly vanishes at the sound of Rarity's voice. "Ooooh…" As it was, she was admiring her winged reflection lovingly in a window of a clothing shop. "…ahhhh!"

Rainbow was uncertain as to what to make of this. "Uhhhh…" Walking on, she and Fluttershy led the rest of the group. "Some of the greatest pegasi in history came from Cloudsdale.", she continued.

"Ooh, wait for me!", Rarity said as she flew away from the shop window to catch up. Elsewhere, three stallions in hard hats, tool belts, and orange safety vests were doing construction work. Two gripped the ends of a tape measure in their teeth to size up a column, while the third used a jackhammer on the cloud foundation. The one with the free end let go, allowing it to snap back into his partner's mouth, and the jackhammer jittered away over the edge as all three looked off to one side and see Rarity flitting by on her new wings.

"Those wings are gorgeous!", one of them said. Chronicle rolled his eyes at the sight of their being distracted.

_Typical construction catcalls._

"Why, thank you!", Rarity replied as she swooped down over the others.

Be careful with those wings, Rarity.", Twilight warned. "They're made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate."

"Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure they can't get worn out from too much attention."

"Ouch.", Chronicle remarked, taking fun in the comeback. "I'm still wondering if those Glimmer Wings are worth learning." He then mused to himself. "Maybe I can reinforce them with magic."

"Since we're up here, I'd sure like to get a look at where the weather's made.", Applejack said.

Rainbow seemed to brighten up at this. "Great idea! Come on, girls!" She proceeded to fly ahead. "To the weather factory!"

_I hope it's kid friendly…_, Chronicle thought, nightmares from the "Rainbow Factory" book Blue Diary gave him months ago coming to mind.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

En route to the weather factory…

As they crossed a street, the eight (seven if the clone is not counted) encountered some familiar faces.

Chronicle was the first to greet them. "Derpy Hooves! Bon Bon! Lyra! Carrot Top! Dinky!"

"Hi!", chirped the unicorn filly.

"Hey, guys!", greeted Heartstrings.

"What brings you here to Cloudsdale?", he asked, his friends still staring in disbelief that there were more non-pegasi in Cloudsdale aside from them.

"We decided to see the Best Young Flyer Competition!"

"And I'm taking part!", finished Derpy.

"You?", the stallion was shocked. "But aren't you a mother?"

"Still just about young enough to qualify. I'll be too old next year and I wanted to show little Dinky I'm not **just** a klutz." At this, she picked up her daughter and hugged her.

"Oookay.", Chronicle managed to say as his friends regained their composure.

"As for how we got here, I won a lottery two days ago and got tickets for a tour to Cloudsdale.", Bon Bon explained. "And as for how we're able to walk on clouds, which only pegasi can normally do, we've been cast a cloud-walking spell by the guy who took us here."

"And in the event we would want to visit Cloudsdale again, I also learned it too."

"I see. Say, we're headed to the weather factory. Thinking of coming?"

"Sure!", said Carrot.

Derpy however backed out and said, "I think I'll sit this one out."

"Aww…", complained Dinky. "I wanted to go."

Rainbow told Chronicle, "There was a…disastrous incident last time she was there. It's one of the reasons she decided to be a mailmare instead of a weather pony."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

Finally…

Leaving Derpy and Dinky to go elsewhere ("I'm gonna buy souvenirs."), the group, now added up by three, made their way up the cloud equivalent of a narrow road winding along a cliff to a building complex built on it. A rainbow laced down into one wing, waterfalls of its light trickle over the edges like a fair number of Cloudsdale's buildings (and Rainbow's house). Black storm clouds hung over other areas and crackled with lightning.

Upon reaching the place, they were stopped by an official, but Rainbow vouched for everypony and they were granted access, but not without donning the appropriate safety attire, which consisted of white hard hats and coats. And thanks to a spell from Rarity, the clone Chronicle was donned the clothes without having to push his body around, which would not be safe for his integrity.

The group made their way to one of the entrances in the factory, its door hissing upward as a magic sensor (explained later) detected one worker and ten escorted visitors. Rainbow led them through and into the factory, keeping her voice down.

"This is where they make the snowflakes.", she explained, indicating several of them under a magnifying lens on a table, being inspected by workers dressed for the cold—fur-lined lab coats, with earmuffs over the hard hats. "Each one is hoof-made."

_So Parasol works here too._, Chronicle wondered as he noted the faces of two of them as they stood at workstations on opposite sides of a large vat of flakes. _And wait…that can't be Noteworthy. Can it? A relative, perhaps?_

"As you could [sic] see, it's a delicate operation."

"Hmm…the legend of Snowdrop comes to mind.", muttered the mare-faced stallion.

"You read that legend?", Twilight whispered.

"Mm-hmm. Very tear-jerking tale. From what I read, she was one of Princess Luna's cherished ponies." He then lowered his voice further. "I wonder if her passing was one factor behind her transformation into Nightmare Moon…"

Meanwhile, Rarity flew up to check out a couple of large specimens hung from the ceiling. "Ooh, the snowflakes look even better from up here!", she said. But the air currents created by her flapping not only caused these two to swing on their wires, but also sent all the regular-size ones every which way on the production floor. Grumbling ponies galloped after them, many with bowls balanced on heads to catch them, but the sound of delicate flakes shattering on walls and floor came through all too clearly. Bon Bon and Carrot Top gave a disapproving look at the Glimmer Wing-wearing unicorn.

"We better move on before Rarity ruins winter and causes a drought.", Rainbow suggested. She winced at the tinkle of another broken flake.

"Yeah. With winter coming shortly…", Lyra started.

Just then, Chronicle started up upon sensing something. His time as a bodyguard had given him the intuition on whether they were being watched. He turned to Twilight and said, "The rest of you go on ahead, I think I'll see what I can do about this mess." He then gave a wink as well.

Twilight didn't understand the wink, but decided that he knew what he was doing and agreed. As she left with the rest to the next area, Chronicle made a glimpse back as he made to walk after them, then suddenly teleported.

When he emerged, he promptly landed on one of the workers, then took off her hat, revealing a familiar very light yellow bandanna under it holding back baby pink hair.

"All right, missy.", he said. "I want to know why you've been spying on Rainbow Dash a few hours ago."

This seemed to surprise the "spy", who spoke in a highly feminine voice. "How do you know that?"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who knows a thing or two on espionage."

She gave a sigh. "All right. But could you promise not to tell anypony else? And move somewhere discreet?"

"Okay." He then got his companion moving and out of the factory. "That's an amateurish move for a spy."

"That's because I'm not. Not the assassin or infiltrator type anyway. I'm an undercover Wonderbolt. You can call me Skyla." She raised a hoof to shake.

"Chronicle." He returned the greeting. "So… Let me ask again. Why have you been spying on Rainbow Dash?"

"Okay, do you know how we recruit Wonderbolts?"

"No."

"We have the Wonderbolts Academy, of course. However, the only way to get in is by invitation letters."

"And there are undercover Wonderbolts like you investigating potentials like Rainbow Dash?", Chronicle guessed.

"Uhh…that's right."

"HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT!", a voice came.

The two of them turned to see Pinkie Pie headed their way. Without missing a beat, Chronicle conjured a barrier for her to slam into, which she did.

"Pinkie Pie.", he greeted. "What's up?"

"Too spicy!"

"Too spicy? That's weird coming from **you**."

Pinkie then turned to Skyla and said, "Hi!"

C—TS—LH—GH—BB—A—RD—R—F—PP—S

Erstwhile…

Rainbow Dash led her company (sans Rarity, who was off elsewhere) to a large round chamber. Three workers criss-crossed its upper reaches, each with a net on a long pole—similar to a pool skimmer—over one shoulder. A freshet of rainbow light spilled out of an aperture near the open ceiling level, down through several suspended pools, and toward the floor. Other pegasi were at work on these platforms, using their own skimmers to keep debris out.

"And here's where they make the rainbows!", she finished as the others followed her through the area. Pinkie dipped one front hoof into the pool and licks it, smacking her lips to get the taste.

"Pinkie Pie, I think that's industrial solvent!", gasped Bon Bon.

Pinkie's face then cycled through a quick series of colors and painful contortions, accompanied by a brief burst of flame from her mouth, and she gasped for breath once she was back to her normal pink. The stuff had disagreed with her so badly that she almost couldn't get her next word out. "Spicy!" As she galloped off, Twilight gave a smile, Applejack laughed, and Carrot groaned.

"Okay, now I get what Mystic Shield meant by tasting a rainbow.", Chronicle commented.

"Yeah.", Rainbow agreed. "Rainbows aren't really known for their flavor."

"I seriously hope they're not made out of…" He didn't know how to put this without sounding like a madpony. "You know…unless…"

"If you're thinking about that tale of the 'Rainbow Factory', that's just a old filly's tale.", said the worker who looked like Noteworthy as he overheard. "A scary story mothers tell their foals to scare them into behaving."

"I'd still like a deeper tour sometime, if just to allay my fears."

"You'd have to ask the boss for that. I believe Rainbow Dash here can take you there."

Chronicle turned to face her. "Perhaps another time."

"Pinkie Swear?"

"Pinkie Swear." And the two of them performed the necessary motions, remembering to close their eye before putting their hoof into them.

"I think she's lucky she only breathed fire instead of, say, her mouth being covered in severe chemical burns.", Bon Bon said. "And the fire breathing's already strange to me."

_From what I know, a rainbow is basically just refracted light, so tasting liquid rainbow would probably be like a mouthful of laser beams. However, given that they are like this in Equestria…_ Chronicle's thoughts were interrupted by a "Whoa!" He would've described the voice that made it to be like that of a typical high-school bully.

The two turned to see a trio of pegasus stallions (all clad in white hard hats and lab coats like the rest) crossing the floor and keeping their eyes trained on Rarity, who was out for a midair stroll.

"Well, if it isn't Billy Dumbell, Hoops, and Score.", the unicorn stallion said mostly to himself.

Billy had a dark brown coat, light tan hair, a barbell cutie mark, and blue eyes set unusually far down toward his nose. Hoops, the largest of the three, had a dark tan coat, brown hair, and a cutie mark of three basketballs. Score, the shortest and bulkiest, had a gray coat, dark gray/black hair, and a cutie mark of two footballs. All of them had their manes hanging down into their faces, obscuring the eyes of the latter two.

"You've met them?", asked Rainbow.

"Uh-huh. Remember that prestigious child I talked about? These guys tormented him as well. Or at least they would have were it not for me."

"Oh, you were his bodyguard, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh, where'd you get those amazing wings?", they heard Billy ask. "I want a pair!"

"Hmmm…yeah, I guess I could see that.", Rarity replied.

Just then, the trio noticed one particular pony. "Oh, hey, look, it's Rainbow Crash again!"

Hoops laughed at that. "Yeah! Rainbow…um…" He fumbled for the words. "…Crash!"

Chronicle turned to Rainbow and said, "Can't believe Spike wasn't the only one…"

"Rarity!", she scolded as the others went over. "What are you doing talking to these guys?"

"Oh, they were just admiring my wings, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah. You should forget the Sonic Rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these!", Billy teased, then laughed heartily before suddenly stopping, then turning their gaze on one other pony. They retained this silence for six seconds.

"Finally noticed me, huh?", Chronicle finally said.

"If it isn't that unicorn who's been taggin' with that kid!", said Billy.

"I see you finally managed to find jobs.", the unicorn snarked in return.

"And you, you're hanging out with this loser?" The jock pointed at Rainbow while saying this.

Chronicle responded by flaring his horn and generating his "magic horn blade", but much shorter as if not wanting to attract too much attention. Rainbow slumped despondently at this. "Just a new contract is all. And I discuss their terms with no one." He then lengthened his blade and positioned himself so that it was between his companions and the trio. "And if you dare speak ill of any of my charges again while I'm around, I'll make that scuffle we had last time look like a play fight."

At those words, Billy and his posse backed away, not once showing fear in their faces, then left without a word. Once they were out of earshot, Chronicle sheathed his "blade". Luckily, Bon Bon, Carrot, and Lyra were at the back and did not clearly see what he did.

"Umm…was that what you call a bluff?", Fluttershy asked.

"Maybe.", he replied coyly. "Depends on how they take it."

She had no idea what to interpret from his words, so she decided to change the subject. "Oh, come on, girls. Why don't we go see how clouds are made?" As the group headed out, she addresses Rainbow. "Don't listen to them. You're gonna win that competition for sure."

Rainbow turned to Chronicle, who made a gesture of understanding and backed away out of earshot (knowing he can know what they said anyway later through Surveillance), then said, "Are you kidding? I can't do the Sonic Rainboom. And just look at these boring, plain old feathered wings. I'm doomed!"

Her three friends present shared a concerned look at this. The other three were unsure of what to do and remained neutral.

C—TS—LH—GH—BB—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—BD—H—S

Later…

The group made their way to an immense circular chamber with a domed, open ceiling. Several pegasi were hard at work here, stirring large kettles that sent up thick white clouds of vapor, while others pumped the bellows to heat the ovens on which they sit. One mare with a wisteria coat, pink lace hair with baby pink streaks, charm pink eyes, a cutie mark of a rainbow, and the name Rainbowshine, flew to one empty kettle and tipped in the contents of a bucket on her head. Instantly, the vessel erupted to life in a geyser of clouds.

At this point, the real Chronicle, Skyla, and Pinkie Pie (now having recovered from her disastrous rainbow taste-test), were returning and making their way to the rest. When Twilight and the others turned, saw her, and asked who she was, the Chronicle clone said, "Ask him later. My memory doesn't get updated to whatever he discovers." He then turned to a very uneasy Rainbow, then to what had grabbed her attention; a babel of admiring voices from a number of workers—Rainbowshine among them—as they looked at Rarity, who was showing herself off once more.

"What, these old things? Go ahead, everypony. Photos are encouraged.", she was saying.

Rarity's friends and the three accompanying Ponyvillians were slightly fed-up, except for Rainbow, whose nerves are starting to chew her up again, and Skyla, who was more than just fed-up. She seemed to be insulted for some reason.

The real Chronicle noticed this and asked, "Do you have anything against Glimmer Wings?"

"No. What I **am** against are over-their-head show-offs, no matter their wings." At this point, the three have joined the main group.

As the showboating unicorn played to the crowd, Twilight stepped over for a word. "Rarity, we're supposed to be helping Rainbow Dash relax, remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off!"

Rarity just flew higher with a contemptuous sigh. "How can you ask me to put away perfection?" She ended up directly in front of the sun, so that its rays shone through her wings and threw pastel spots over the gathered workers. Pinkie was the only Ponyville resident to join the workers in voicing their awe at the display. Seeing the end product of her impromptu light show, Rarity let a wild laugh ring over the crowd.

"Just great.", said Chronicle as he dismissed his clone. "Maybe I should start calling her 'Vanity'."

Twilight meanwhile turned to Rainbow, who was now sitting on the factory floor with her head propped on her front hooves. "Rainbow Dash, are you okay? You don't look so good."

"Of course.", she replied, obviously hyperventilating. "Why wouldn't I be okay? Everyone's so in love with Rarity's wings that they won't even notice when I totally blow it in the Best Young Flyers Competition!"

Just then, Rainbowshine zipped forward. "Hey, there's an idea!", she suggested to Rarity. "You should enter the competition!"

An elder worker spoke up, "Yeah! I could watch you fly all day long!"

"There really isn't anypony who uses their wings quite like me. Perhaps I should compete."

Rainbow gasped, "What?!"

With that, Rarity shifted away from the sun as more awed mutterings came. The cloud crew followed her off the production floor as well as Lyra, Carrot, and Bon Bon (though they walked at a slower pace), leaving one shocked blue pegasus to gape after them.

Her other five friends and Skyla gathered around, then she said, "What am I gonna do? I'll never win the competition now."

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S

Eyecatch (video-type) - The show's logo in the center of the screen, with the multicolored, translucent butterfly-like wings from last time appears. The wings then fold up and disappear behind the logo, then two helices of rainbows come out from the sides, followed by a sonic boom that absorbs its colors. (1)

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S

For some reason, Skyla went closer and began to pat Rainbow on the head in an attempt to comfort her. Chronicle's friends turned and faced him, all of them silently asking one question; Who is she?"

Knowing he needed to explain, he said, "Girls, this is Skyla. Skyla, this is…" He proceeded to name each of his friends, ending with the absent Rarity.

"Quick question.", Pinkie said. "What's does Skyla have to do with Rainbow Dash to be this concerned?"

"Aren't we all?"

"We're her friends. But what about Skyla? What is her relationship? Is she an old friend? Just like that meanie-pants-of-a-griffon Gilda?" She turned angry upon mentioning her.

"Well…" Chronicle was unsure of what to do. "Let's just say that in a way she's like Scootaloo."

"Oh!" The others murmured the same as well, agreeing with his story.

Skyla however was confused and turned to face him, still patting Rainbow. "Scootaloo? Who's that?"

"Somepony who looks up to her." He then gave a wink.

"Oh. I see." Skyla looked to the others. "Umm…we should be heading for the Cloudosseum now. Let me take you there." (2)

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—S

Later…

After consoling Rainbow Dash enough for her to move, and leading her and her friends to the Cloudosseum, Skyla took them to their places, Rainbow backstage with the rest of the competitors (Rarity was already there), and her friends in the stands. As for Skyla herself, Chronicle assumed she went off somewhere to change into her Wonderbolt outfit. Naturally, since they were outside the weather factory, they discarded their white hats and coats.

As Chronicle sat with his friends, he recalled that he summoned a clone to guard the balloon, which was parked outside. He also remembered that before parting ways, he gave a Pinkie Swear to Skyla (in Pinkie Pie's presence so she would explain it to the white pegasus) that he won't let Rainbow Dash know about what she told him. When asked what was it she told him, he said he could not tell because it would risk breaking his promise, and knowing what would happen if one breaks a Pinkie Swear (or Pinkie Promise as she sometimes calls them)…he shuddered from the thought.

Shaking the memory off his mind, Chronicle decided to do a once-over of the area. Amidst the trumpet fanfare and the cheering fans that filled the stands, one section seemed different. Here, clouds at three levels have been set up as box seats, with a single large, ornate seat placed dead center at the lowest level. Above it were a large emblem depicting Princess Celestia's sun cutie mark within a heart, and a statue of a winged unicorn walking on a cloud. Apparently, this was her private lodge.

Deciding he could afford to be a little naughty, though not **too** naughty, he 'pulled out' Surveillance, though not all the way out of "hammerspace" and decided to take a look at the backstage area through the camera on Rainbow. From what he could see the gathered competitors were talking excitedly among themselves, each with a number pasted over his/her cutie mark. Many of them he was familiar with back in Ponyville, even Derpy. One however—wearing a "5"—looked just like Doctor Whooves, down to the hourglass cutie mark.

_That can't be the Doctor. Regeneration doesn't happen this early._

Rainbow herself—wearing number 2—was pacing nervously by herself before the entire group started to move out. Behind them, a pegasus he knew by the name Medley knocked at the closed door of a dressing room. It opened and Rarity put her head out. "I'm going to be a while!", she said as she lifted one gleaming front hoof, blew a bit of dust from it into Medley's face, and slammed the door.

Curious as to what Rarity was doing, he decided to take a peek. But only a quick peek; he's not going to disrespect her privacy so liberally. However, before he could do so, he felt a chill of dread as Pinkie Pie's voice echoed in his head, making ghost noises. Remembering the terms of his Promise with her concerning Surveillance, he quickly put it away. _Okay. I'm __**not**__ a pervert._

As he regained his composure, he took another look at what his friends were doing. They were sitting around waiting, just like the rest. Pinkie however was laughing while holding a "#1" foam finger aloft on one front hoof. This boggled him greatly as he glanced up, seeing Lyra reaching down through the cloud seat above them, almost as if she was trying to get the foam finger. And then he remembered something. _Right. Trade with other thumbed creatures like griffons or even a minotaur. Yeah, I do remember seeing one before._

He grumbled and decided to poke his head through the cloud seat he and his friends were on and saw Billy, Hoops, and Score, whose laughter was far from lighthearted. He grumbled in disgust before pulling his head back out.

As he did, he then saw somepony come up on a cloud that took him well above the top-level seats. Chronicle recalled his name as he saw the blue stallion with gray-white hair, a dark gray jacket trimmed in white (that hid his cutie mark), sunglasses, and a headset microphone that amplified his voice. It was Madden, the Cloudsdale-famed event announcer.

"Fillies and gentle-colts!", he announced. "Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!" The cheering intensified as the fanfare played again and said princess descended from the sky and into her seat, flanked by two guards, before waving to the crowd. "Please welcome our celebrity judges for the Best Young Flyer Competition…the Wonderbolts!"

On cue, six pegasi flew overhead, leaving gray cloud contrails in their wake. They wore goggles and blue/yellow full-body jumpsuits decorated with lightning bolts on each hoof. Each jumpsuit had a winged lightning bolt where a cutie mark would normally go.

In an instant, the Wonderbolts launched into a near-vertical climb, then formed a single-file line that became an impossibly tight cluster before they fled apart in a burst of fireworks. Their six trails formed an outline in the sky that bore some slight resemblance to a head-on view of a pegasus with wings spread. Cheers erupted from the audience as three of the Wonderbolts settled into the box seat to Celestia's left and the other three rose to a box seat further above.

Chronicle couldn't find any sign of Skyla anywhere, though he managed to locate her shortly after, standing alongside the other three Wonderbolts. She wore their uniform and had taken off her bandana, letting her mane hang loose.

"And now, let's find out who will take the prize as this year's Best Young Flyer!", Madden continued. Chronicle decided to take this time to check on Rainbow again.

From what he could see in the backstage, coming into view was a light tan mare with bright orange hair, a pink sweater that hid her cutie mark (which was three tornadoes likke Dizzy Twister), a pair of half-moon glasses on a chain, and a headset mic. Her mane was curly, but her tail was straight. From what he could tell from her ID, she was the stage manager Lucy, whose voice carried a nasal accent and marked her as an older, hard-bitten type.

"Okay, contestant number one, you're up!", she said.

On the end of this, Dizzy Twister, designated #1, trotted eagerly past Rainbow. The latter looked toward her own rump and let off a startled yell; her number was 2. Outside, Dizzy flew through the curtain and into the arena.

Back backstage, Lucy called, "Okay, number two, let's go!"

Now in a total panic at being called up on deck, Rainbow looked here and there quickly. "Um…" She then found #5, a stallion chewing on a tuft of hay (and the Doctor Whooves lookalike. She slunk quickly behind him.

"Come on, come on, we ain't got all day!"

Upon reaching him, Rainbow switched their numbers, then called out to him. "She's talking to you!"

Spooked, he let the hay fall out. "Oh! Uh…" He trotted ahead. "…well, I guess that's me!"

As she watched him head out with a smirk, back in the seats, Chronicle mused as he observed, _Definitely not the Doctor. His voice is higher than even mine._

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—S—BD—H—S—M—L

Later…

While stallion #12 (a Caramel-lookalike) flexed a foreleg muscle to mare #6 (Parasol from Ponyville), Rainbow reached in and swapped the mare's placard for her #5.

"Okay, number four, time to go!", Lucy called.

The dressing room door opened and Rarity stepped up—mane in curlers, and face covered with her favorite mud mask. "I'm number four, and I need just one more itsy-bitsy minute. Be a dear and have somepony go ahead of me, hm?"

"Look. I don't care who it is, but somepony's gotta go on!"

#7, a stallion, was raring to go. "Let's do this!", he said as he reared up, then galloped out. Rainbow made a little noise of surprise upon seeing her #6.

"What am I gonna do?", she said, then she quickly noted Derpy, who was #15.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—S—BD—H—S—M—L

Later still, back at the stands…

Twilight Sparkle and the others were talking with each other in their box seat. Pinkie's foam finger was already taken by Lyra, who was hugging it like a doll, much to Bon Bon's concern.

"I loved number seven!", Twilight said. "Doing fifteen barrel rolls in a row can't be easy!"

Fluttershy put out her opinion. "My favorite is number ten. She just looked like such a nice pony."

"I can't believe number six, Derpy, managed to make such a screw-up so spectacular.", Chronicle commented.

"Mommy's the best!", they heard Dinky call from the box seat above.

"Hm. Wonder how come we haven't seen Rainbow Dash or Rarity yet.", Applejack pointed out. "The competition's almost over.",

"Who knows? From how Rarity was showing herself off with those wings, I'm guessing she's working overtime at the dressing room. As for Rainbow, I can only imagine how she's feeling right about now."

"Why don't you check on her?", Pinkie suggested.

"Okay. But you know the rules we made and sealed with your Promise."

"We're not allowed to peek into one another's activities through your cameras without your consent. And Rarity or Applejack have to ask permission to know what your cameras on the Cutie Mark Crusaders are seeing."

"Right." With that, he moved to their backs and 'took out' Surveillance. What he saw made him just want to teleport there right now and comfort her; Rainbow's nerves had reduced her to a bug-eyed, twitching wreck huddled at the base of a column. The backstage was empty at this point, the rest of the contestants already having done their part.

Lucy came over and prodded her with a hoof. "Number fifteen, let's go!" Just then, the sound of an opening door caught both of them off guard. They turned to one of the dressing rooms, which had mist swirling out of it and a hazy silhouette visible beyond. As the figure stepped forward, Chronicle did his best not to shriek at the sight.

The vainglorious unicorn had donned a headdress of pink feathers whose base fit over her horn, as well as a garment styled to resemble her wings—yellow-dotted pink upper portions arcing over her flanks, and yellow-streaked blue ones riding low toward the floor. The two sections joined at a pink collar fringed with fluffy yellow/blue feathers, and she wore heavy makeup and yellow/pink anklets on each foreleg. "Rarity is ready!", she said.

"Look, ladies.", Lucy said, remaining calm as Rarity approached. "I don't know what to tell you. There's only time for one more performance. If you both want to compete, you'll just have to go out there together."

"Well, Rainbow Dash, shall we?"

Her unstrung opposite number could do little more than smile and gibber weakly. Chronicle couldn't take this anymore and 'put away' Surveillance.

"What's going on?", asked Twilight.

"It's…ugh. You're gonna have to see once they come out."

"You look like you've seen something horrifying."

Before Chronicle could reply, they were interrupted by Madden. "And now, for our final competitor of the day…", he announced. The curtain where the contestants emerge parted as Rainbow floated out. "…contestant number fifteen!" Rarity came out after her. "Uh…and apparently contestant number four."

Their friends cheered, with Pinkie waving a spare foam finger and Fluttershy barely making herself heard. Chronicle just remained silent however.

"Good luck, Rainbow Dash.", said Rarity. "Just do your best." She then leaned in close. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of changing our music. That rock and roll doesn't really match my wings."

This was a piece of news Rainbow did not want to hear, judging from her scared gulp. Rarity then did a couple of dance steps and twirled in midair as a pizzicato string introduction was played.

"Oh, I can't stand this." Chronicle groaned as he turned away. "Tell me when it's over."

Twilight turned to face him. "But the one you called Medley also danced to this sort of music. How is this any different?"

"Mixing a dance number and a stunt sequence just isn't right. And Rarity's get-up… it's just…" He shook his head as the music changed into a light waltz. _My brother could win this easy._ He calmed himself, closed his eyes, and began to put the Best Young Flyer Competition out of his mind for the time being.

_F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

_Two years ago, in a forest somewhere in an unspecified Equestria…_

_Chronicle and his siblings (then called Timmy, Tabitha, and Crais) were just about finished with their walking lessons from their Aunt Fanny, whose pony name is Fuchsia. As for the three Timers, they haven't selected theirs at this point in time._

_"Nice work, kids.", she said as she turned to face the three as they all stopped, then narrowed her eyes on Crais. "You, however…" Fuchsia pointed a hoof at him. "Don't think you fooled me. I heard your wings flapping." The white pegasus was about to speak up when she shoved her hoof to his mouth. "And don't give me that old excuse. You already had two days to get accustomed to your wings."_

_"Told you she'd find out, Crais.", Tabitha snarked._

_"Just shut up, Tabitha.", the pegasus grumbled in response. "I'll be headed to Calyndar for flight lessons." With that, he took off and headed eastward._

_"Aunt Selena.", Timmy said, remembering Calyndar's real name once his and Tabitha's younger brother was gone. "Isn't she assigned to some place called 'Lunar Republic'?"_

_"She's the one.", answered Fuchsia._

_"Now which side of the family was she in again?"_

_"Your father's side. Come on. Let's go see Crais do his stuff." Fuchsia started to walk eastward as well. "Your mother won't be back for a few hours for your magic training."_

_"Right.", said Tabitha as she and Timmy followed. "Because unicorn magic is applied differently than ours." (3)_

_C—T—BD—F—C—T—BD—F—C—T—BD—F_

_Later, at a forest clearing…_

_The three non-pegasi watched as Crais hovered twenty feet above them, his two swords Justice and Retribution summoned. He was having trouble keeping them balanced as he wasn't used to holding them up with red bands. He was swinging his swords with caution, though he was progressively moving faster._

_"That's it. Keep those steady.", Calyndar said as she flew around Crais. "Soon you'll be swordfighting in the air in no time." Calyndar was a blue-violet pegasus pony with light blue hair tied up in a bun, both mane and tail, and teal eyes. Naturally, her cutie mark was the same as everypony else in the area; the emblem of the Story Crew. "Okay, Crais. Let's put you into a crash course. Are you ready?"_

_The white pegasus stopped swinging. "As I'll ever be."_

_"Okay. Remember, no sword auras, are we clear?", Calyndar reminded. She then clapped her hooves. "Go."_

_On cue, several spherical orbs with insectoid wings, which in retrospect resembled parasprites, emerged from the trees, then started to close in on Crais. At once, he zoomed straight for one of them, swinging his right sword Retribution at it. The slash cut the orb in half and just before it exploded, Crais was already onto the next one. He wasn't exactly graceful in his movements, but they were still smooth._

_Near the end of the exercise however, one orb tackled him from behind and he started tumbling in the air. Tabitha gasped at this predicament, but Crais managed to recover in time to land his hind legs on another orb and kicked off of it, sending it into yet another orb, making the two explode. He charged straight for the orb that hit him, pointed his forelegs (and by extension his two swords) forward, and began to spin._

_"Is he…", Fuchsia started._

_"I think he is.", Timmy answered. Crais pierced through the orb, but when he stopped spinning, he found himself dizzy as he automatically dismissed his swords as he put a hoof to his head. Thankfully, he was still flapping his wings. _

_However, one more orb closed in on him from the right. Fortunately, he managed to see it coming and dropped for a while, letting it pass over him, before flapping again, the force of gravity clearing his head. As the orb turned around for another pass, Crais swung his left sword Justice at it, slicing it in two, then backed away as it exploded._

_"Crais, you did well.", the pegasus mare said as she approached him. "But you need to build up your recovery time from that spin move of yours."_

_"Yeah, I guess I should."_

_"Woohoo!", cheered Tabitha, alerting the two to her, Timmy, and Fuchsia's presence. "You were great out there, Crai—"_

_E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K_

Chronicle was forcibly 'yanked' from his flashback moment when he suddenly felt a searing sensation in his eyes as an image of Rarity came into his mind. It felt like he something was putting hot iron onto his closed eyes. Of course, he couldn't help but cry out as his eyes seemed to burn, but when the feeling disappeared, he found that his vision was still as good as ever.

When he turned around, he saw Twilight was facing him, looking concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah.", he managed to reply. "Rarity just came into my mind and for a sudden, my eyes seemed to burn. Vision's still 20-20 though."

"Maybe we should see an eye doctor after this."

"Yeah."

They turned back to the show just in time to see Rarity and Rainbow Dash ascend into the sky, the latter bypassing the former as the wind tried its best to peel her face off. Rarity simply glided serenely up and toward the sun, stopping only when she has centered herself in front of it. If any of their eyes were keener, they would've seen sweat beginning to run down her face due to exertion and/or the heat at this altitude, and she addressed herself toward the crowd far below.

"Look upon me, Equestria, for I am Rarity!" She then spreads her wings, creating a spread of pastel-tinted sunbeams that bathed the entire Cloudosseum and elicited awestruck gasps from the fans.

"More like 'Vanity' if you ask me.", Chronicle grumbled. "Definitely 'Vanity'." He was promptly smacked in the face by Applejack's hat held by her tail…somehow.

"That was a low blow, Chronicle.", the farmpony told him.

"Sorry.", he whispered back in apology, then let out a short gasp. He could swear he could see smoke coming from the tips of the Glimmer Wings. And then—as the waltz came to an end—they vanished in a sudden lick of fire, incinerated by the sun's energy, and left behind only flakes of soot that crumbled away from the showoff unicorn's back. Her eyes went wide as she realized that the laws of physics have just socked it to her. "Oh, Icarus." _Okay. Definitely not using them in hot days._

At that second, gravity decided it was time to pull her down screaming toward the Cloudosseum with every limb flailing wildly. "Oh, no!", gasped Twilight. "Her wings evaporated into thin air!"

"If there's an alicorn or some other deity in charge of gravity, she sure has a sick sense of humor.", her bodyguard said as Rarity promptly dropped past all three levels of box seats and out through the arena's open floor. "Time for me to save the day." He was about to take a step forward when Twilight barred him.

"No need for that. The Wonderbolts are on the job." Indeed, the said three that were seated near Celestia's box seat sprung into action to dive after her. Just in case however, Chronicle summoned a magical clone on his back, and cast the cloud-walking spell on him.

Below, the Wonderbolts were knocked senseless one by one when they caught up to Rarity's windmilling hooves. "They're just a show team.", Chronicle groaned. "And why isn't Celestia coming in to help?! My turn." He turned to his clone, who had jumped off of him. "Jump in after them and once you're in range, teleport them at the Cloudosseum."

At once, the clone jumped off after the falling ponies, his horn flaring as he got ready to teleport. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?!", Twilight asked. "Teleportation only affects position and orientation, not momentum! They'll still fall at the same speed and direction as they are right now!"

"Well **my** teleportation can change momentum in respect to orientation.", Chronicle answered. "You saw it at work."

"I'm coming!", Rainbow's voice came as she dropped through the Cloudosseum.

On seeing her, he took out Surveillance and checked on Rarity's camera. Right now, he could see her continue to flail as the Wonderbolts continued to fall around her, his clone fast approaching and horn flaring, with Rainbow right behind. His hopes of teleporting them back up were dashed however as he saw Rarity's flailing hoof smack the clone and dissipate him immediately.

"████!", he swore. At the rate they were falling and their distance to the ground, there was no time for him to try a second time. Not unless he was going to risk his own life as well; his clones weren't as quick-thinking as he is.

Beside him, Fluttershy was covering her eyes with a scared little cry. "I can't look!", she was saying.

Immediately, he opened his screen to check on Rainbow and said, "It's up to you now! Do the Sonic Rainboom!" He couldn't tell if she heard, but he could see that if the wind was trying to peel Rainbow's skull clean last time he saw her try, now it was toying with the idea of turning all of her inside out. There is one difference from her practice session: she now dove with both forelegs extended, not just one.

Ahead of her hooves, the rounded wave front began to form just as before. Rarity gave a surprised gasp at this, followed by happy ones from everypony else as Fluttershy uncovered her eyes. Chronicle just tensed up from the building suspense. _Can she save them? Will the laws of physics bend enough for her to do that while enduring the G forces pushing at her right now? Does "inertial dampening" happen during Special Sonic Booms?_ There were too many horrors to comprehend with these "great fall" rescues from great speeds and it was making him nervous.

Back below, the turbocharged pegasus's eyes watered from the air rushing past her face, and sparks began to crackle from the wave front. It elongated just as before, but this time there was no resisting force to slow Rainbow's flight.

With a sudden hard kick of acceleration, she broke through the wave, which turned into a rainbow-hued blast that rippled outward from the spot. She continued her plunge at this insanely fast speed, leaving a sparkly rainbow contrail that persisted in the air long after she had gone. When the burst washed over the Cloudosseum, every jaw hung slack except one, whose owner leaped ecstatically in her seat while yelling at the top of her lungs.

"A SONIC RAINBOOM! SHE DID IT!", Fluttershy screamed, erroneously sounding like Pinkie. "SHE DID IT! WHOOOOO!"

Back at ground level, through the cameras of Surveillance, Chronicle saw Rainbow do yet another thing of the impossible; just as she reached the four fallers and caught them, the Wonderbolts on her back and Rarity hanging onto both her forelegs, she then performed a quick 90-degree turn, rocketing along to barely clear the tops of the tall grass right below. And none of them have suffered any horrifying gravity-related effects. As another—though not as sharp—90-degree turn took them back up toward Cloudsdale, Chronicle was overwhelmed by this violation of physics and passed out, nearly falling unconscious as he slammed his head on the soft cloud floor. All of his friends were too busy applauding Rainbow's achievement to notice.

At the corner of his eye, he could see a rainbow arc over the the Cloudosseum, with its catalyst rising up through its base later with the trail no longer stretching behind her. Once inside, a squad of pegasi (two of them Merry May and Dizzy Twister) helped the three professional flyers off her back and the two mares held Rarity up while Rainbow settled at the edge of the arena. Her hooves have barely touched down before the crowd exploded into a storm of cheers, confetti, and streamers, and she stared around openmouthed as Fluttershy gave her pipes another workout.

"A SONIC RAINBOOM! WHOOOOO! YEAH!"

Whether the tears forming in Rainbow's eyes were due to the standing ovation, or to the fact that she finally got Fluttershy to do a proper cheer, or even both, Chronicle couldn't tell for sure. The hero-of-the-day then turned to Rarity. "I did it! I did it!"

Rarity, out of breath, managed to reply, "Yeah…you sure did. Oh, thank you, Rainbow Dash. You saved my life."

"Oh, yeah. I did that too." The pegasus gave a laugh. "Best day ever!"

"Sure is…", Chronicle muttered as he began to recover.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—PC—S—M—L

Sometime after…

Twilight Sparkle and the others were preparing to head for home, Derpy and the others already on their way back. Rarity—now out of that eye-sickening costume—sat on the parked balloon while the rest clustered around it on the edge of the arena floor.

"I want to apologize to all of you for getting so carried away with my…" Rarity choked back a sob. "…beautiful wings. I guess I just lost my head."

"It's okay." Fluttershy.

"Oh, don't worry 'bout it, kiddo." Applejack.

"We still love you." Pinkie.

Rarity then turned to Rainbow. "And I'm especially sorry that I was so thoughtless as to jump into the contest at the last minute, after you had worked so hard to win it. Can you ever, ever forgive me?"

"Aw, it's okay. Everything turned out all right, right? I just wish I could've met the Wonderbolts when they were awake."

A hoof clad a blue jumpsuit sleeve, marked with a yellow lightning bolt, reached in and tapped her on the shoulder. "You might still have that chance.", a familiar voice said. When she turned around, she found herself face to face with the three Wonderbolts who swept down to save Rarity. And Skyla, though she didn't recognize or even meet her due to her breakdown at the factory.

Rainbow managed a tiny gasp before getting her tongue in gear. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!", she began to say excitedly.

As Skyla moved aside, one of the other three, a yellow-orange mare with a two-tone orange mane, spoke up. "So you're the little pony who saved our lives. We really wanted to meet you and say thanks."

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"

Just then, Princess Celestia came over, accompanied with her guards. Twilight greeted her upon seeing her. "Princess!"

All the Ponyville residents save Rarity knelt briefly and stood up. "Hello, Twilight Sparkle, and hello to your friends too." Celestia greeted.

"Princess Celestia, I'm sorry I ruined the competition.", Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash here really is the best flyer in Equestria."

"I know she is, my dear. That's why for her incredible act of bravery, and her spectacular Sonic Rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for Best Young Flyer to this year's winner, Ms. Rainbow Dash."

During this, said Best Young Flyer stared in slack-jawed bewilderment until Celestia finished and set a gold tiara on her forehead, which was decorated with a lightning bolt centered above her eyes and a wing near each ear. As her mouth freewheeled again, she is lifted on the heads of Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie and carried away.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"

"Careful or that might be all you can end up saying.", Chronicle teased, getting a glare from her that lasted for only a second. He had long since recovered from his faint.

"So, Twilight Sparkle, did you learn anything about friendship from this experience?", Celestia asked her student.

"I did, Princess…" The faithful student glanced at a certain friend. "…but I think Rarity learned even more than me."

"I certainly did.", Rarity said as Chronicle 'produced' paper and quill to write down the lesson. "I learned how important it is to keep your hooves on the ground, and be there for your friends."

"Excellent.", said Celestia. "Well done, Rarity."

By this time, the three 'carriers' rejoined them and set Rainbow down, who said, "This really is the best day ever!"

They were accompanied by the three bullies, though all their earlier derision has now vanished.

"Uh, hey, Rainbow Crash—", Billy began.

"Dash!", Hoops corrected as he nudged his buddy in the ribs and Chronicle have them a glare.

"Oh, uh—sorry, Rainbow Dash. Uh, we just wanted to congratulate you on winning the competition."

"That Sonic Rainboom was awesome!", Hoops reared while saying this.

"Heh…thanks, guys." Rainbow was surprisingly cool with them.

"Uh, w-we're really sorry we gave you such a hard time before.", Billy said.

"Aw, that's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Hey, do you want to hang out with us? Uh, maybe you could show us how you did that incredible trick."

"Sorry, boys." The recent champion zipped up to where two Wonderbolt stallions were waiting in midair, dropped a foreleg over each one's shoulders, and started away with them. "But I've got plans.", she finished, not looking back.

As they flew off, silhouetting themselves against the sun, Chronicle wondered to himself, "Hmm…I better check on that book on Special Sonic Booms again. I wonder if we have the book in the library?"

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Notes:  
(1) Spoiler eyecatch? He-he-heh.  
(2) Yeah, I added an extra scene after the eyecatch. It's hard introducing a new character like this.  
(3) Oh dear, I think I found myself on a retcon problem here. I'll just say that Chronicle's time as a freelancer/bodyguard made him put his family behind him until Timerity showed up. She said what she had said because she wasn't sure if he remembered her in her current state. The flashback sequence is for both development on the Story Crew and Relax-o-Vision from Rainbow's screw-ups and Rarity's gaudy look.

nightelf37: Sorry for the ending. I know it's not good. And Skyla will return in the next chapter. Here are her voice actresses.

_Skyla_

_JAP Voice: Terakado Hitomi__ (Hanon Hosho in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Angelica in Gunslinger Girl)_

_ENG Voice: Olivia Hack__ (Ty Lee in Avatar The Last Airbender)_

nightelf37: Also, I treat Doctor Whooves as another Time Lord renegade who nicked their own TARDIS and legged it, so as not to conflict with him being THE Doctor. Same goes for his pegasus lookalike. See ya on Third!


	23. Chapter 24: Owl's Well That Ends Well

nightelf37: This chapter takes place sometime after "Sonic Rainboom". Due to the fact that the videos I found don't exist anymore, I'll just have you guys imagine appropriate music.

Disclaimer: I own only the following: My originally designed OCs, and anything that doesn't happen in the show proper.

SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM–SCFIM

**Chapter 24: Owl's Well That Ends Well**

Late afternoon, in the Golden Oaks Library…

Inside the upper story room, Spike grabbed a telescope resting on a table, then tucked into a small wagon that already held a folded picnic blanket. Twilight Sparkle was at the bedroom loft above.

"This meteor shower tonight's gonna be amazing!" she said.

Spike jumped onto a hanging fruit basket in the nearby kitchen area. "Awesome!" He tossed three bananas over his shoulder, landing them neatly in the wagon.

"You know, this shower only happens once every one hundred years."

Spike began to juggle four apples to the wagon. "A centennial celebration!" They started to get away from him though, so he let them roll off his tail and into the wagon.

"We'd better get a move on."

"Don't want to be late!" He agreed as he went to bring over a full punchbowl, which he had some trouble balancing. "Whoa…whoa…whooaa!" Fortunately for him, he managed to get it on the pile. "Ahhh. There!"

"Spike! Did you grab my quill and ink?"

He swept them up from a table. "Check!"

"Scrolls?" Twilight asked as she went down the stairs.

They were thrown in as well. "Check!" Spike now had a sprinkling of crumbs around his mouth. "I've also packed a telescope, apples, bananas, fruit punch, aaand…" He held up a plate of cookies. "…my freshly baked, homemade triple-decker nut-crazy vanilla creme cookies!"

Twilight giggled at this. "I can see that."

Realizing the mess he had made of himself, the little dragon slurped up all the crumbs with his tongue and flashed a silly little smile.

As Twilight started down toward the reading room, she said, "Once again you've read my mind, Spike. And that is why you are my number-one assistant."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," Spike said as he followed until they reached the ground floor.

Twilight repeated, slightly louder and slower, "That is why you are my number-one assistant."

Spike put a hand to his ear. "Missed that. Huh?"

"I said…" She finally figured out the joke and cut herself off with a laugh as the two of them reached the front door.

"By the way, if I'm your number-one assistant, what does that make Chronicle?"

"Him? I don't know exactly. He's a co-teacher for a self-defense school, my bodyguard, a freelancer, somepony who constantly points out stupid things we do and chew us out on them…and is a friend despite all that."

"Oh."

"Come on, let's get going." She then stopped short. "Wait! I almost forgot! I want to bring The Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy!"

"The Astronoma—loma—homana—what?"

"You know, that really old big blue book on stars, moons, planets, the universe?"

"Right! Check!" He ran off to an adjoining room in search of it, grabbed a handy ladder, and was at the top shelf in no time. When he found the book in question and brushed it off, a thick cloud of dust rose from the cover—apparently it had sat unused for some time—and sent him into the windup for a sneeze.

It failed to come, so he sighed with relief and opened the book…only for the sneeze to then burst out of him, bringing a quick shot of green fire that left the pages a smoking, half-burned ruin. The cover was still in one piece though slightly singed, and he tilted it upright while fearing the worst. He got it in spades; the pages disintegrated into streams of ashes that cascaded to the floor.

"Hey! What's taking my number-one assistant so long?" Twilight called from the main room.

He closed the cover in a panic, slipped it back on the shelf, and climbed down.

TS—S—TS—S—TS—S—TS—S—TS—S—TS—S

Twilight (the time, not the pony), at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…)

The two co-teachers of the school were finishing up a meeting with a pony named Elphaba Trot. Elphaba is a grayish emerald green earth pony mare with brilliant purple hair styled like Medley's, azureish gray eyes, and a black belt cutie mark. She's a teacher in the karate dojo Rainbow Dash attends. This wasn't the first time they met though.

"So, do we have an agreement?" Mystic asked.

Elphaba put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm…I will have to inform Sensei about this before we get get started. He has expressed some interest in your school." According to her, Sensei is an earth pony elder who all the martial arts teachers in Ponyville (only a few, actually) answer to. "Other than that, I think your proposal's good. This collaboration will be beneficial for both our schools." She put her hoof down. "I shall give you his response on the morrow."

"Tomorrow, or on something that happens to be called the Morrow?" (1) Chronicle asked. The other two puffed their faces before letting out a laugh. "What?"

"Sometimes, you're just funny," Mystic said as he stopped. "How do you do that?"

"Sorry. It's just that one time somebody said the same thing, and when I expected them the next day, they came a few hours later on their personal carriage called 'the Morrow'."

"Seriously?" asked Elphaba as she raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously."

"Oh. Well, I meant the next day, not on anything called 'the Morrow'."

"All right. Hey, we're going to watch a meteor shower tonight. You comin'?"

"Yes. Sensei has arranged a gathering, same as you with your students, if what I overheard from the one named Tricky Books was correct."

"Right. Well, let's get going."

With that, the three ponies walked out of the dojo.

C—MS—ET—C—MS—ET—C—MS—ET—C—MS—ET

Evening…

The three and a certain duo climbed the hill and found plenty of ponies gathered there, some of them gathered in groups. One group was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with Applejack and Pinkie Pie on their way to join them. Another group was Greatstone, Tricky Books, Bullseye, Chrono Cards, and a couple more unicorns; Mystic Shield's entire class (as well as friends of theirs). A third group consisted of pegasi and earth ponies with a minority of unicorns, in the center an elderly pony in a martial-arts training uniform and black belt.

Elphaba parted ways and headed for the third group, Mystic split up and approached the rest of his students, and Chronicle (as well as Twilight and Spike) made his way to his friends.

"I was sure I put the Astronomer's Guide back," he heard Twilight say in the (short) distance as they slowly converged. "The book would've helped me identify different planets and stars tonight."

"Well…maybe someone borrowed it," Spike suggested. "Besides, you don't need that book. You can already name all the planets and stars 'cause you're super-smart and astronomically awesome." The two stopped and she smiled at him.

"Thanks, Spike. You're such a flatterer."

"Yeah, I'm a sweet-talker."

"And a number-one assistant!" Twilight added a wink. "Right?"

"Check!" Spike then got to work with alacrity: laying out the picnic blanket, setting out the fruit in a bowl, putting a scroll and apple within easy reach, and arranging the punchbowl and cups. As he did that, Chronicle reached the spot and settled down.

"Hey Chronicle," Twilight greeted. "How'd the meeting with Elphaba Trot go?"

"It went well."

Before he could say more, Rainbow rushed toward the blanket, snagging an apple in her teeth and taking a big bite. "Wow, Twilight!"

Meanwhile, as Spike had set up the telescope on a tripod, Scootaloo walked over to Rainbow. "You're lucky to have such a rad assistant. I wish I had someone to do whatever I told them."

Scootaloo jumped excitedly at this. "Ooh, ooh! Me, me, me! I'll do whatever you want, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at the filly's eagerness. "Oh, yeah, pipsqueak? How about taking out the trash?" She tossed down an apple core, the remains of her eaten fruit.

"Yes, ma'am!" The eager little filly snapped it up and galloped away as Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and the rest came over and clustered around Spike, who was around the refreshments.

"Do we have Spike to thank again for this amazing spread?" the fashionista said. "Isn't he simply amazing?"

"Aw, come on…" Spike's eyes squeezed tightly shut while a giddy little smile planted itself beneath them, as if expecting a kiss from the object of his affections. When it failed to arrive, he opened first one eye and then both, looking a little grumpy. "I said, come on."

Pinkie decided to give him a noogie. "Little Spikey-wikey! Who knew that big ferocious dragons started off so cutesy-wutesy?"

"Spike, you are such a little star that I had to make this little bow tie for you," Rarity said as she levitated one up. It was bright red and liberally studded with small gems of all colors. As she secured it around Spike's neck, it proved to be nearly as wide as his entire head.

"Gosh, you guys are embarrassing me. Stop it!" Spike said bashfully, allowing for a moment of silence before continuing. "Twilight, your turn."

Twilight playfully reproved him instead. "Spike, that's enough."

"Uh, right. That's enough."

"Hey, everypony! The show is starting!", Sweetie suddenly said, nearly getting run over in the resulting stampede to the hilltop. She quickly galloped over to jump on Rarity's back, Apple Bloom already having climbed onto Applejack's. Spike, having removed his tie, found himself at the back of the group for the moment.

Excited murmurs and comments rose from the crowd as brilliant white meteors began to streak across the night sky. Scootaloo had found a spot alongside Rainbow, while Spike was now on Twilight's back. Chronicle found himself next to Fluttershy, and a little too close to her for comfort. As the others were making a chorus of "Whoa"s, he found himself distracted from the unable to speak, more so after her wings opened for a moment, one of them brushing against his side.

_I feel…hot. And like there's…something in my stomach. Feels like…butterflies, but that doesn't make sense. They wouldn't be able to make it with their wings intact, let alone survive. Is this what Timerity's expressing lately during my visits and hers?_

Ever since the Sonic Rainboom, in the dreamscape, his sister—**fraternal twin** sister—was acting very giddy and light-headed after mentioning being rescued by Rainbow Blitz when she was knocked out by Elusive while trying to rescue him and the Wonderbolts. Apparently, while he merely sent a magical clone to save them, Timerity took the leap herself.

If he could see himself, he would find himself hyperventilating and blushing. _Could this be… No. I can't. I can't do this! It's against recommendation protocol._ He won't get in trouble for breaking this, but it's inadvisable to do so. _What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?_

He was snapped out of his trance when somepony tapped him on the horn. He regained his composure and found Rarity in front of him and Sweetie reaching out with a hoof. "Ooh. Looks like somepony's in—"

Chronicle cut her off by planting a hoof in her mouth. "Don't… even."

Once he put it away, she said with a knowing grin, "All right, then." Sweetie was making the same grin, but a harsh look from the stallion erased that.

C—TS—S—A—AB—RD—R—F—PP—S—SB

Later…

As the meteor shower ended, the group were also nearly finished with their food as they talked excitedly to one another, though the boys were silent. As Fluttershy got a cookie for herself, Pinkie finished the one she was working on and tapped the plate's edge, flipping the last three neatly into her mouth.

"Mmm…" Pinkie said before swallowing. "…mmm, wow! These cookies are dee-lish!"

"Spike made them," Twilight said. "Speaking of…" She called over her shoulder. "Spike, can you bring us some punch?" There was no response. "Spike?" They turned to see him out like a light, snoring loudly with his head in the overturned, nearly empty punchbowl.

As she and Rarity walked up to him, the latter said, "Oh, poor little thing."

"Aw, he's worked himself to the bone."

"And now the punch has been…Spiked!" Pinkie joked with a smile.

There was laughter from all. Except for Chronicle, who had been drinking a cup of punch, then spat it out right into Applejack's face after comprehending Pinkie's words. "What?!" he gasped.

Pinkie seemed to realize what he was thinking. "Relax! It's just a joke."

He gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. For a second, I thought I—and the Crusaders—would end up getting very tipsy."

"Tipsy?" Bloom didn't understand the word, then turned to Applejack in hopes of getting an explanation.

"When you're older," the farmpony answered as she shook off the spat-out punch off her face.

"Aww…"

C—TS—S—A—AB—RD—R—F—PP—S—SB

Later that night, in Chronicle's dreamscape…

The blue unicorn was doing a practice duel. This time, it was a three-way fight with Blue Diary and Timerity. The pegasus had his swords out while the unicorn mare had a "magic horn blade" drawn just like her brother.

"Ready?", a voice came, but it did not come from any of the three.

"I was born ready!" answered Timerity.

"Ready when you are," muttered Blue as he assumed a stance.

"Let's do this!" said Chronicle.

"Go!" said the voice, and the three of them charged toward each other.

Timerity started by charging towards her brother, who did likewise. When she jumped, he did too, and when they clashed blades, she drove hers down, flipping her brother mid-flight and gaining some air time as she made her way towards Blue. Then, she unsheathed her "horn blade" and 'created' something resembling claws from her hooves.

"The 'cat claw' spell?" mused the pegasus in a deadpan tone as he parried the attack with his swords, then pushed her away with them.

Instead of landing on the ground however, Timerity cast a spell of herself and was encased in ribbons of brilliant blue light A ball of light then burst through the cocoon and there was a blinding white flash. When if faded, it could be seen that she bore a pair of Glimmer Wings, but were of a yellow hue, with blue, brown, and black patterns.

"I see you had the same idea as I had," noted Chronicle as he got up and drew back. As his aura let out ribbons of light, it was soon apparent that he was about to do the same thing.

"I guess our worlds **are** connected," his sister replied as she prepared to cast another spell.

"Focus!", called the voice.

"Screw you, brother! You never hang out with us!" The voice belonged to their elder brother Mahou, whose pony name was Mystic Wand. He's stationed in an Equestria where Twilight Sparkle is its near-immortal ruler.

"Can you really blame me? I have plenty of studies in my Equestria."

"Maybe you should make some friends," Chronicle teased as his own pair of wings came to being and he ascended.

"Oh, don't you get started on that tale! It's against recommendation protocol to make mutual bonds with its residents. But given the power of one of those bonds, Father has decided that friendships are okay."

At this point, the three ponies were in the air at a standoff. Chronicle has 'unsheathed' his "horn blade", Blue's sword auras extended to double their length, and Timerity's "claws" lengthened by two inches.

"At least try and spend some time with the family," Timerity stated as the three of them charged towards each other. "Even if only to test your skills."

As the three closed in and began assaulting one another in a confusing flurry of slashes, the voice said, "For the record, I do visit our mother. I'm practicing with her this very spell right now I'm using to talk to you guys."

"Perhaps you could promise to to a practice session some time?" Blue suggested. "It can be just as important to try out your skills in the field."

Mystic Wand seemed to let out a grumpy sigh. "All right. But I'm not versed in close combat like the three of you are."

"Exactly. You'll need to practice extensive dodging." In the midst of that conversation, one energy blade from his sword flat-smacked Chronicle in the back, damaging his Glimmer Wings and another from his other sword knocked him in the head i a critical spot, rendering him unconscious…even though he technically is already so in the land of the waking. Unfortunately, Blue didn't notice as he also busy clashing with Timerity, who was being very aggressive in her "cat claw" slashes.

"Fine." Wand seemed to be exasperated at being told off by his youngest brother. "You do have a point there. I guess—" He was interrupted when the sound of shattered glass came, which was followed with the normally black dreamscape turning into a daybreak sky as if the black were a porcelain dome breaking apart.

"What's going on?", gasped Timerity.

"I don't know, but given this is Chronicle's dreamscape, he must be thinking of something else." The two remaining fliers looked down and saw their brother falling. Before they could consider descending though, a pegasus bypassed the two at such high speeds the force of wind that followed sent them tumbling mid-air.

As they regained their bearings, they looked down, then decided to follow whoever is flying down towards their brother. The two made good time before suddenly hearing a crackling noise, almost as if the pony they're pursuing was about to break the sound barrier. As the two were finally close enough to identify the pegasus, struggling through wave fronts of their own, they let out a gasp on seeing who it was.

"Well, I'll be…" said Timerity.

"By Corona's mane!" gasped Blue. "It's—"

Before he could say it, the pegasus broke through her own wave, which turned into a multicolored blast that rippled outward from the spot. However, the two could tell that it wasn't a Sonic Rainboom as it swept them once more. There wasn't even a deafening noise. In fact, it was barely louder than a whisper. The colors were pink and yellow, and there were numerous pink glasswing butterflies about, though their colors were more solid than they were told.

As the two stopped amongst the lepidoptera creatures and the start of the pink-and-yellow contrail, they finally comprehended what was going on. "Oh, he can't be serious," Blue said as he made a face.

"I think he is," replied his sister.

"What's going on?" Mystic Wand's voice came. "When Chronicle's dreamscape abruptly changed I lost contact."

"He's got feelings for her." Timerity finished as she and Blue watched the pegasus, Fluttershy, ascend with Chronicle in tow, who had a dreamy smile on his face. All the while, the contrail continued to persist.

"Who's got feelings for who? What's going on? Come on! Don't leave me out of the loop!" But the eldest brother was ignored as the two in the dreamscape watched the strange scene take place.

C—T—BD—MW—C—T—BD—MW—C—T—BD—MW

Hours later…

Morning came in the waking world. As a sunbeam made its way to a sleepy Spike, he snapped awake. At the same moment, Chronicle had rolled out of his bed and crashed onto the floor, the impact jerking him awake as well.

"Oww!", he gasped as he got up on his feet.

"I overslept!", he heard Spike gasp before an alarm clock was chucked in his direction and ended up getting skewered through his horn.

"Dammit." Chronicle 'removed' the destroyed clock, and put it in "hammerspace" to dump it at his training range later.

"I know it's already ten, but I'm scaly-tailed and bright-eyed!"

Chronicle grumbled at this as he went and jumped straight down from the loft behind the running Spike, then followed him all the way to the kitchen, where his charge was levitating a book into the saddlebags on her back. _Right. His tail ain't bushy._

"I'm ready to work twice as fast!" the little dragon continued. "Oh, please don't be upset, Twilight! What do you want for breakfast? Oatmeal? How about a sunflower smoothie? Grass pancakes?"

"Spike! Don't worry," Twilight assured as she floated an apple off the table.

"But—my morning chores!"

She gave a chuckle as she put the fruit into her bag. "It's okay. Owlowiscious did them for you."

A pair of reptilian green eyes popped wide in surprise. "Who?", he asked alongside Chronicle as a scroll and a book went in next.

"He's our new junior assistant," she answered as she walked past them. "He's gonna help out with your chores so you won't be so tired all the time."

Spike shook his head clear and started after her. "Wh—what do we need a junior assistant for? I'm not tired. I do fine on my own, I don't need sleep, I—"

"Spike, don't worry. He's just here to help out a little. Now I have to go out, so why don't you introduce yourself to Owlowiscious? He's in the library."

Once she was gone, the baby dragon began to sweat profusely as he said to himself, "Worried? Do I look worried? I'm not worried. Who's worried?"

"Oh, come on, Spike," Chronicle assured. "Let's just see who our new companion is before we judge him."

"Don't you have a class to teach?" Spike replied.

"I can spare a few more minutes. Also, you did not think of making me food."

"Sorry."

"It's all right. Just remember that I have needs too."

With that, the two of them descended to the ground floor. While the unicorn reached the bottom, the dragon got about halfway down and stopped, taking a hesitant look around. "Hello?" he called. "Hel-looo?"

They found a small brown owl perched on a book stand and facing the front door. Then, for some strange reason, the lights dimmed ominously and its head swiveled to face the two, the pattern of light and shadow making its eyes seem to glow.

"Whoa…" Once Spike started in fear, the lights turned back to normal. "Dude, that's creepy."

"Nah, that's just natural for owls," the unicorn said as they walked up to the owl They're capable of turning their heads one-eighty degrees." Once they reached him, he said, "Hello. Name's Chronicle."

"Uh, hi there. I'm Spike. I'm sure Twilight has told you all about me."

"Hoo," answered the owl.

"Um, Spike. You know, assistant number one?"

"Hoo?"

"Umm, Spike," Chronicle tried to get his friend's attention.

He was ignored. "I'm Spike! And…who are you? What are you?"

"Hoo."

"Who?"

"Hoo."

"I thought your name was Owlowiscious!"

"Hoo?"

Chronicle tried again. "Spike."

"Okay, Who, Owlowiscious, whatever! I'm Spike, okay? Look, all you need to know is that I'm number one and you're number two! Got it!"

"Hoo?"

"What does that make me? Number three? Or you don't consider me as a fellow assistant?"

Spike's eye twitched for a moment as Chronicle's response went past his ears before he got himself under control. "So, a man of mystery, huh?" He then stalked away, then zipped back. "I'm keeping my eye on you!" He walking off again, glancing back. "I've got eyes in the back of my head too, you know!" If he indeed had them, they did him little good at this point, as he walked flat into the front door and ended up dazed on its mat. "Ugh…well, not really, but…" He angrily opened the door… "You know what I mean!" …and then slammed it behind him, leaving the owl and unicorn inside.

Chronicle turned to Owlowiscious, who was turned to the window, and said, "Oh, don't worry about him. He acted the same way with me when I first entered Twilight's employment. He'll get over it." He then added to himself, "At least he did after finding out I wasn't hired to be an assistant but as a bodyguard. Technically, Twilight's teacher hired me, but still."

Owlowiscious turned back to face him and said, "Hoo?"

"Why am I even talking to you?"

"Hoo."

"Of course that's what you'd say. You're just an owl. Well, see ya later."

"Hoo."

"Whatever." With that, he left the library, en route to Mystic Shield's place.

C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O

Eyecatch (video-type)

[A/N: Due to the video not being available, please look for (and envision) _Digimon Adventure_'s first eyecatch.]

{Nine cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: a star-tipped wand spreading stardust, an orange circle depicting an open book inside, a lyre, a trio of raindrops, a bundle of three carrots, seven bubbles, a trio of wrapped candies, a trio of smiling daisies, and a safety pin.}

{The nine cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting three rows of nine ponies. The top depicts (from left to right) Raindrops, Blue Diary, and Ditzy Doo (with Dinky on her back). The middle row depicts Lyra Heartstrings, Trixie Lulamoon, and Pokey Pierce. The bottom row depicts BonBon, Carrot Top, and Cheerilee. The show's logo shows up on the bottom right.}

C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O

A few hours later…

Chronicle was walking back to the library, with him a certain pony he didn't expect. "I certainly wasn't expecting you to actually live here, Skyla. Then again, Pinkie Pie did recognize you as a Ponyville citizen."

The white pegasus nodded her head. "Uh-huh."

"But while I'm not as remembering as her, I'm sure I would've recognized you before we actually met at the weather factory."

"Well, I'm usually practicing at Whitetail Wood. And when I'm not, I'm out foal- or babysitting."

"I see. That's why."

"Well, I best be off."

"Bye." And Skyla was gone. And from what he noted, she was headed towards Sugarcube Corner. Sighing, he reached the left side of the library, where Twilight and the rest happened to be, Owlowiscious resting on his charge's back. Spike was sitting just outside the sill of an open library window and reading a book, though they did not seem to notice him.

"Oh, what a fantastical fluffalicious feathery little friend!" Pinkie was saying. "I'm "hoo"-ked!"

Everypony laughed at the silly pun as he finally joined them. "He's just wonderful!" Fluttershy said.

"He's just wonderful!" Spike mocked from above in irritation. Everypony turned to look at him and he immediately did his best to sound sincere. "Uh, yes, wonderful. He is quite…" The next words came through his teeth. "…the charmer."

"And Owlowiscious is just such a star I just had to make this little bow for you," Rarity said as she levitated a bow similar to the one she gave Spike, and it settled neatly at the owl's throat—a gesture that sent Spike's face into the red and caused him to blow steam from his nose. He then stormed back into the library, slamming the window closed.

"What's he all saddle-sore about?" asked Applejack.

"He's probably just jealous of Owlowiscious," Rainbow suggested.

"Maybe Spike feels threatened, or worried that Owlowiscious will replace him," Fluttershy said.

"Replace him? Hah! That's crazy," Twilight scoffed. "Spike knows he can't be replaced."

"Twenty bits says he's thinking you're trying to replace him," Chronicle dared. This earned him a quizzical look from all of them.

"Seriously?" Twilight then made a face that told him she has accepted the dare. "You're on."

C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S

Some time later…

Chronicle was at the restaurant Horte Cuisine was a waiter of. He and Mystic Shield sat at a table with Elphaba Trot and an elderly earth pony, though he certainly did not look frail in the slightest. His eyes were constantly closed, his hair was white and short save for a full beard and mustache, he bore a scarlet coat, and his cutie mark depicted a black belt just like Elphaba, though she has stated they were not relatives.

A short distance away, he could see Skyla gorging herself in cheesecake. As for the four of them, they were treating themselves with quesadillas, hay fries, quiches, and carrot buns. There was also a quince, which Chronicle immediately distrusted.

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Mystic Shield," said Sensei as he wiped his mouth and beard clean of crumbs.

"Thank you, Sensei," the unicorn teacher replied as he took a bite out of a quiche, which had already come with a fork to eat with.

"You have been in Ponyville for quite some time now, and I believe it's about time your school is integrated into our group. It's been a very long time since I've seen a pony with your style."

"You've been at one of my classes?"

"No, but one of my unicorn students attends them. Her name is Holly Dash."

Elphaba was confused, and she asked, "Hold on. Seen a pony with his style? What do you mean by that?" She finished one carrot bun before digging into her hay fries.

"It was a long time ago. I was just a martial arts teacher for a few years when I met him in Baltimare."

Mystic seemed to start up upon hearing that. "Baltimare? I lived there once! Did his name happen to be Aegis?"

Sensei's eyebrows seemed to rise as he picked up the quince. "Why, yes. You know him?"

For the first time, Chronicle saw that his co-teacher friend was being ecstatic. "Know him? He was my teacher! He inspired me to set up my school in the first place! How did **you** know him?"

"As I said, I met him in Baltimare. We had a casual chat, and he invited me to his dojo. You weren't there however, probably haven't enrolled at that point." He paused to take a munch out of a carrot bun. "By the way, how is he?"

Mystic's hype seemed to leave him completely as he slumped. "He…he passed away."

"Oh." Sensei lowered his head in respect. "I'm so sorry to hear that." Elphaba and Chronicle remained silent in respect as well.

"It's all right. That was a long time ago. …So, what will happen, now that I'm part of your group?"

"Well, given that I haven't integrated a unicorn-exclusive art before, I will need time to think of something."

"I know of one particular technique, and I have learned it from an acquaintance in my pre-Ponyville days." He turned to Chronicle on saying that, who was just swallowing a bite he took. "I don't recall much of it though, but it involved some sort of long jump, tumbling, getting back up, and quickly turning around."

"I think I know about that technique," Elphaba offered, not noticing that there were a few strands of hay around her mouth. "It's an technique in aikido called Zenpo Kaiten Ukemi." She turned to Sensei. "Did I word it right?"

The elderly pony nodded. "You have." He then took a bite out of the quince, which made Chronicle worry a bit. From what he knew, quinces were poisonous to equines. But maybe quinces in Equestria were different.

"Oh yeah! That's it," said Mystic. "By the way Elphaba, you might want to clean up your face." The sole mare in the table rubbed her face with a foreleg and noticed that he was right, giving a sheepish grin. "Thank you."

"Mind telling me who this acquaintance of yours was?" inquired Sensei.

"Sure. He was a minotaur who called himself Harmony Way. (2) Unlike many of his kind, he doesn't tackle 'obstacles' head-on, but instead prefers diversion-type methods. You know him?"

"Not this time. He's not familiar to me. There aren't many minotaurs who do business with ponies. Other than that one self-help guru. Him, I do know."

Mystic seemed to express shock at this. "You met that guy too?! He's been a bad influence to some of my old colleagues while I was still Aegis's student. Personally, I think his assertiveness lessons can be so…I don't know, but it makes them jerks, which goes against the attitude Aegis promotes."

The other two ponies were confused from what he said. "Care to enlighten us on who you're talking about?" asked Elphaba.

"No," the purple unicorn refused. "That minotaur's **not** a proper influence."

"You mentioned 'assertiveness lessons'," Chronicle said. "One of my friends needs lessons on that."

"I will not letting you take Fluttershy to one of his speeches. And I'm not telling who he is because I'm afraid it would make your search of him easier."

"But if you don't tell me, I might end up stumbling into an ad of his or something and not find out he's the guy you want me to avoid until you find out and **then** tell me."

Mystic remained silent for a few seconds, at which they could hear Spike pass by telling himself to look for a quill. Once he was gone, the unicorn finally spoke. "…You're weird when you speak in long sentences. Thankfully, no science jargon as with Twilight Sparkle."

"You're diverting from the subject. Just tell me who the self-help guru is."

"I agree with your friend here," said Sensei to Mystic. "But I also agree that that guru is a bad influence. Using force is not the way of any martial art, though many can be used to that means."

"Yeah," agreed Elphaba. "Aikido's not among those offensive arts, being all about diverting blows and immobilizing or throwing opponents in response."

"I believe it's best we do not speak of him. His view of assertiveness conflicts with the philosophy of self-defense."

Chronicle sighed in defeat. "Fine," he conceded. At the corner of his eye, he could see Spike running with a white feather, but ignored the sight. "But don't go berating me if I stumble into him without prior knowledge."

"If it helps any, I believe **you're** suitable enough to teach her assertiveness," said Mystic. By this time, they were all finished with their food.

"I'm not too sure of that. I have trouble reaching out to her. And **sometimes**, I have just as much trouble making myself heard to everypony else just like she does, even if my voice is louder than hers."

"You're getting off-topic again," warned Elphaba. "And in case you all forgot, you were supposed to talk about the Zenpo Kaiten Ukemi."

"Oh, right."

"I'm already teaching my students that move, but I'm not entirely sure if I still got it right, given that I learned it from a minotaur, and they use hands, which we don't have." Mystic raised his front hooves in demonstration. "And it's only after a casual chat with Elphaba that I realized that spells alone are not enough."

"I recommend you to see Ebon Belt," suggested Sensei. "He's the resident aikido teacher. I shall take you there."

"Thank goodness," said another voice. The four turned to see Horte Cuisine looking a little miffed. "If you are finished, monsieurs and madame, would you be so kind as to leave the premises. This may not be a fancy restaurant, but dawdlers are not tolerated."

"Apologies."

C—MS—ET—S—L—C—MS—ET—S—L—C—MS—ET—S—L

The four ponies were now walking down a road and through the marketplace. Sensei was leading the way to Ebon Belt's house. Just then, a voice came from behind.

"Chronicle."

The four stopped and turned around. they could see a very pale amber earth pony with long blue hair that had amber eyes, two slightly shorter bangs and was wild at the top, and a full moon cutie mark.

"Who are you?" asked Mystic.

"My name is Lunatic, and I came to inquire about your…combat session request."

Chronicle seemed to remember something as he smacked himself in the head. "D'oh! I had completely forgotten about that."

Mystic turned to face his co-teacher. "Was that one of the requests you put up on the Request Board?"

"Yes. Didn't think about it much after I started teaching alongside you." He turned to Lunatic. "How were you able to identify me?"

"The librarian who lives in the Golden Oaks Library provided a very helpful description."

_Twilight._ "I see." He turned to his three companions. "I'm afraid I must go."

"It is all right," said Sensei. "You have made a deal of sorts, and you must fulfill its terms."

"Thank you, Sensei."

"I'll tell you everything later, okay?" offered Mystic.

"Okay."

With that, Chronicle left and joined Lunatic en route to his training range at the back of the library. "So. Lunatic, huh? If I remember the term correctly…"

Lunatic interrupted, "I assure you I'm as calm as can be. However, come nighttime, if I'm outdoors and stressed… that's a different story." He heard his companion gulp. "No need to worry. I've had training on emotion control and stay inside, especially when Princess Luna's moon is shining at its brightest."

"Speaking of Princess Luna, what is your opinion about her?"

"Oh, are you talking about her other persona Nightmare Moon? I haven't heard much about that incident in Ponyville, but I believe they are two different ponies personality-wise. I wish to meet her someday, and be part of her personal guard."

"Luna has her own personal guard?"

"The Canterlot Royal Guard serve both Princesses, but are primarily under Celestia. From my time there after the Nightmare Moon incident, I heard that there's a regimen different from the gold-clad ponies. Their armor is darker, and just as the Royal Guards have enchantments that render their appearances so generic, these do too, but with a tone of menace, and with one addition."

"What?"

"The wings of assigned pegasi change into something more bat-like."

"I see." By that time, they were at the front of the library, where Twilight was just walking out, Owlowiscious on her back.

"Hey, Chronicle," she greeted. "I see you've met the guy who was looking for you. If you can, could you find time to get Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy for me?"

"Can't you do it yourself, since you're going out and all? Wait… I thought we already had that book."

"We had. Until I found out that Spike burnt it by accident with a sneeze."

"I'm surprised this place is still standing."

"As I said once before, dragon fire doesn't spread like normal fire unless Spike wants it to."

"Oh, right. Well, okay. When I have the time, I'll go to the bookshop. But after my combat session."

With that, the two of them made their way to the training range. After entering its bounds, Chronicle instructed Lunatic where to position himself. The two then faced one another.

"Shall we begin?" Chronicle said. "Do you have a preferred weapon?"

"As a matter of fact…" Presumably out of the hammerspace non-unicorns have (which his cousin Ginger Cloud told him about), he drew a giant two-pronged sword. It was almost entirely gray, with a short, light gray handle with a black spike set in its pommel. The base of the blade sported a short spike on either of its sides. The tip of each prong was flat and slatted inward.

_I'm never gonna get used to that._

Before Lunatic put the sword handle into his mouth, he said, "I am much stronger than you expect."

"At least your neck is," replied Chronicle as he 'drew' his "magic horn blade". _Figures, my first opponent and he has a big-ass sword._ The two of them then charged. Lunatic started by swinging his sword sideways. The unicorn vaulted right over him, flipping as he did and 'slashing' him.

Upon landing, he turned around to see the earth pony still standing without so much as a stagger. Lunatic swung around, doing a three-sixty. Chronicle managed to jump back to evade it, bt just barely; one of the blades nicked his coat, but thankfully no blood was drawn. At least that's what he felt.

"Now that's a very impractical weapon," the unicorn commented. "In the grasp of a non-unicorn anyway, not that I'm one of those who believe they're better than the other races."

Lunatic said nothing as he made another swing, which Chronicle jumped over…only for the earth pony to quickly swing the other way. Instantly, he 'sheathed' his "horn blade", and conjured a wall of magic between himself and the sword. It did not stop the attack as it broke, but it managed to soften the blow even the blade made contact with his body. As the unicorn managed landed on the ground and got up, he noticed that he's got a large though light cut from the sword.

Lunatic noticed it too, spat out his sword, and said, "Do you wish to stop?"

Chronicle was considering otherwise, and continuing the battle until he was tired, but then he remembered his rules; first to break a bone loses, first to draw blood wins, fight ends when challenger is obviously tired. "Yeah, I guess. You win by rule of first blood."

"I see."

"I guess I didn't really think this through. It's been quite a very long while since I've done a serious one-on-one fight. Apart from that one griffon. Too busy teaching at Mystic Shield's school." He 'took out' a pouch of bits from "hammerspace" and gave it to Lunatic. "Here's the reward money, complete with victory bonus."

The earth pony took the pouch and put it away. "Thank you. Victory bonus?"

"I'd still give out bits even if you lost. It helps invite more challengers."

"I see." He picked up his sword, then put it away as well. "Now that the request is completed, I shall be on my way." With that, he started to walk out of the training range.

"Where are you going?" Chronicle wanted to know.

Lunatic stopped and turned. "Do you need to know?" he asked in a tone that implied that he's not the type to give away anything so easily.

"…I guess I don't. Bye."

"Farewell." Lunatic then left. Once the earth pony was gone, Chronicle looked down at his wound, found that it wasn't too serious, and made his way back to the front door and saw Twilight just on her way back, Owlowiscious on her back. He joined her, managing to hide his superficial injury as she went in…and they saw Spike in a classic dastardly villain costume; black cape, top hat, and mustache taken from the local joke/novelty shop.

He was scattering feathers from a torn pillow and his footprints were red, though later inspection revealed it was not blood but ketchup. And while he was doing an evil chuckle, he did not seem to notice the two until he backed up right into them. There was a very long and uncomfortable pause, after which he zipped away and instantly returned without his villain getup.

Spike then spoke in an overly-melodramatic manner. "That poor little field mouse!" He pointed to what was obviously a toy mouse for a cat to play, which was— "Torn to pieces! It must have been Owlowiscious!" He resumed normal tone. "You know, since owls eat, you know, mice." Then to full drama mode. "What a terrible, terrible bird! He must be punished!" Then to normal again. "Right?"

The two ponies were thoroughly unconvinced.

"Spike, I don't know what upsets me more—that you deliberately tried to set up Owlowiscious, or that you actually thought this pathetic attempt would work," Twilight said.

"I doubt even Derpy Hooves would fall for that, not that she's stupid, just clumsy," Chronicle added.

"You've let your jealousy get the best of you, Spike. I am truly disappointed. This is not the Spike I know and love!"

That seemed to get him in the moneymaker. He reached out toward her, but got no response as she trotted solemnly out the door and Owlowiscious swiveled his head to look back. Once she was gone, he turned to face Chronicle, who gave a sigh and said, "Why are my friends such idiots?" He then turned away from the incredulous dragon and 'slammed' the door.

As he continued to walk for a full minute, he thought to himself. "At least Mystic Shield has a level head like I do. At least Blue Diary's friends are much more sensible. Father did warn me that most of us who make friends with the natives never end up with those who are one hundred percent sensible all the time. What could have gotten Spike to—" He stopped upon realizing something. "Oh no." He then started to run off somewhere. "Twilight!"

C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L

Eyecatch (picture-type) - On the left side of the screen is a grumpy Chronicle in his "training range" with his wound and on the right is Lunatic with his giant blade. On the upper right is the show's logo.

C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L

Nighttime…

Spike was trudging through the Everfree Forest with a bundle on a stick slung over his shoulder. "Twilight hates me. I'm cold, hungry, tired, and lonely. Could it get any worse?" A sudden flash of lightning and a few raindrops reminded the little runaway that this was the one question no one of any species should ever, ever ask. The sprinkle turned into an instant storm. "I guess that's a yes."

Looking around, he spotted a not-too-distant cave and headed for it. Upon reaching it, he peeked inside. "Hello?", he called. "Hel-looo?" The lightning illuminated the outline of some indistinct thing farther back in the cave, and Spike squinted for a better look. "What is that?" Once the glare had died down, he approached it and saw that it was an enormous mound of gems. His eyes snapped greedily back and forth. "Oh…if this is what running away is all about, I never want to go home!" He then dove in. "Gems! Mmm! Woo-hoo!" He began eating away.

S—S—S—S—S—S—S—S—S—S—S—S

Later…

Spike rested at the base of the pile, his belly from eating gems. A pat on his overstuffed belly brought up a hiccup that took his good spirits with it, and he groaned in a discontented way. "Even if my tummy's full, the rest of me is still empty. I miss Twilight and the pony gang—but she doesn't love me anymore." He picked up a half-eaten gem. "So I'm better off here—all by myself."

As he began to suck on the stone like a lollipop, wisps of steam floated toward him and set him sweating. He soon had to stop and fan himself with his hand. "Wow. Seems to be getting warmer." He sucked some more, more steam came, and more sweat came. "This steam is great for my complexion, but it's sure getting hot in here." He tried to resume snacking, but a fresh gush of steam and a hollow roaring sound changed his mind.

As he glances fearfully toward the source, he found himself in front of the gargantuan head of a rather annoyed green dragon. It had yellow-green head spines and ridges above its eyes, a pale yellow hide running down the throat and on its bat-wing ears; and yellow-orange eyes with pale yellow whites. He would later know its name to be Reginald. Its voice was low, gravelly, and full of malice.

"What are you doing in my cave? And why are you eating my gems?" he said.

Spike spat out the one he was sucking on. "Uh…heya, bro. I didn't know this was your cave. And I didn't know these were your gems, but…we're cool, right?" The giant dragon's snarling snout pushed into his face answered that one in a hurry. "Whoa, whoa! Hey, uh…we're like brothers, you know? I mean, you're a dragon, I'm a dragon, it's us against the world, right?" Wrong again. A roar and belch of steam threw Spike against the pile. He landed upside down, shuddered, then got up ready for a fight.

"You don't scare me," Spike said with false bravado. "So you're big." His adversary growled, prompting his eyes to grow very large and frightened, as he saw that, in length, the head and neck alone stretched to at least ten times Spike's height. "Really big." One of Reginald's forelimb extended its digits to show a set of very nasty claws. ""And your claws are super-sharp. Tail…" Reginald extended more spines from his tail. "…extra-spiky. But, uh…you don't scare me! Hah!"

He gathered himself and spat out the best flame jet he can manage—which was far from intimidating. "How'd you like that?" He promptly has to duck under a huge stream of fire that very nearly burnt him to a crisp. It did, in fact, singe the tips of his own head spines and took all the fight out of him again. "Uh, I'd love to stay, but…gotta go! See you!" He began to run off. "Wouldn't want to be you!"

His escape takes him between Reginald's legs, who blew a new burst at his former position, and he dove behind a rock an instant before the tail smashed it to gravel. Off he went again, barely staying ahead of the stomping feet and gnashing teeth, but a dead-end wall soon left him nowhere to go. Reginald's shadow fell over him as he warms up to incinerate Spike.

"Hoo-hoo!" a call came.

Spike looked up in happy surprise. Sure enough, there came Owlowiscious, staying clear of Reginald's claws and bopping it on the snout. Two swings of the tail hit nothing but air, and the third—aimed straight at Owlowiscious—instead came down on the massive green head when he sidestepped at the last moment.

"Spike!" a familiar voice came. Spike turned to the mouth of the came to see Twilight and Chronicle waving him over. "Over here!"

With Owlowiscious keeping Reginald busy, the little dragon made a run for it. "Am I glad to see you!"

"Hurry! Hop on!" Twilight said.

As he did so, she galloped out of the cave with Owlowiscious following, just before Reginald's fire blasted out after them. When it cleared, Chronicle was standing there with a force field around himself.

"We meet again. Reginald."

The green dragon just growled and swiped at the pony, who charged forward and out of the claw's range, knowing not to _completely_ count on his barrier to protect him. He then proceeded to pester him with magic shots. He knew very well that all of his attacks would be ineffective, learning that from his fight with the red dragon Basil. In his first encounter with Reginald, he hadn't even intended to fight, just search an item and go.

Reginald let out a blast of fire, which Chronicle teleported away from, not risking his barrier a second time. He reemerged at the dragon's head, then started stomping on it, enhancing his front hooves with magic. Apparently learning from last time, Reginald's tail went at him from the side so that it would barely brush the dragon's own head.

The unicorn saw it coming and teleported down below Reginald's belly, 'unsheathed' his "horn blade", which phased through the scales, and began to run along it starting from the tail. Even if his blade would happen to phase through Reginald's heart, it would not be fatal due to the dragon's physiology, and even if that were not the case, it was set to not kill. He was just stalling for time, and practicing on doing that.

As he reached past Reginald's forelegs, he found himself face to face with the dragon's head, which was upside down. Just as he processed that, he was incinerated by his fire breath, but when it cleared, there was no charred pony body left behind. As it was, it turned out to be a magical clone. Fuming in anger, he stomped out of the cave, and began to pursue the escapees.

C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L—C—TS—S—O—L

Outside, Twilight was running alongside Chronicle, whom they have met up with a few seconds earlier. Spike was confused for a bit, then realized the one left behind was a magical clone.

"Damn, that dragon's more ferocious than Basil!" he swore, then turned to Spike. "I can't believe you found Reginald's cave!"

"Reginald?" asked Spike as the two of them looked back to see the green behemoth finally catching up to them and chasing them through the forest.

"I encountered him once during a trip to the Everfree Forest. Got his name when I attempted to go through him peacefully to find an item requested by a client. Tell you the rest another time."

Soon enough, the forest turned dim, with Owlowiscious nowhere in sight.

"It's too dark!" Twilight complained. "I can't see!"

The owl caught up shortly. "Hoo! Hoo-hoo!" Facing front, he took up a position perhaps two feet from her face and led the way through the natural obstacles of the terrain thanks to his night vision. Reginald tried to keep up, but found his own path blocked by fallen trees and cannot pursue his prey any farther. He then put his head up into the sky and blew frustrated fire jets in various directions. as the quartet raced to clearer ground. Spike breathed a sigh of relief, and in short order the four have cleared the forest. Twilight stopped near a tree, Chronicle did the same, and Spike dismounted while Owlowiscious perched on a branch.

Once Twilight managed to catch her breath, she said, "Spike! We were so worried about you! I was so worried about you! Why did you run away?"

"I thought you didn't need me anymore, and that you didn't love me anymore," Spike replied.

She was taken slightly aback, but gave a smile. "Spike! Sure, I was disappointed, but you are my number-one assistant and friend, and you always will be. It's just that sometimes I need some help at night. I can't ask you to stay up late. You're a baby dragon, and you need your rest. Owls are nocturnal, so I asked Owlowiscious to help, but not to take your place."

"Just as I wasn't employed by the Princess to replace you," Chronicle added. "but to protect Twilight, though I would also protect you if I can."

"No one could ever replace you, Spike, not even when you are being a jealous numbskull." On the end of this, she gave him a gentle noogie that got him to smile and hug her.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," said the little dragon. "I never should have been so jealous."

"And I'm sorry too, Spike. I should have been more sensitive."

"Yeah you should have," agreed Chronicle. "And now you owe me twenty bits."

"I guess I do."

Spike turned to the tree where the owl was perched. "And, Owlowiscious, I know now that you weren't out to take my job. Forgive me?"

"Hoo?"

"Me. Forgive me, Spike."

"Hoo."

The confounded dragon turned away and shrugs helplessly at Twilight, who laughed softly. "He forgives you, Spike."

The stallion turned to the dragon. "Honestly, I don't really blame you. From what little I discovered about dragons, they are very territorial."

His charge turned to face him. "You think Spike's jealousy stems from instinct?"

"Mm-hmm." He didn't need to say it, but Twilight seems to have figured out as much as he did; the two of them (as well as their friends) were considered by Spike part of 'his territory' and therefore Owlowiscious was treated by him as in intruder.

Their thoughts were interrupted by Spike, who asked, "Hey! How did you guys know where I was?"

"It was your ketchup-covered feet." Spike looked toward the ground and lifted his foot to see the tomato residue still on the sole. ""Owlowiscious discovered your footprints and we followed them all the way to the cave."

"Oh, yeah, the ketchup. It looked pretty real, though, didn't it?" The two ponies gave him a quizzical look. "Uh…heheh."

"And in the event that that wasn't possible, I could just find an item of yours and use my pinpointing spell to track you," Chronicle said. "Failing that, there's always Surveillance. Come on, let's go home."

C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O—C—TS—S—O

Later, in the library…

The four of them were in the kitchen, the two ponies near the fireplace, Owlowiscious on a perch, Spike standing on a stack of books to put him level with the table. He had a quill and scroll handy.

"I know Princess Celestia will want to read about what happened today," Twilight said.

"I'm ready when you are."

She poised herself to begin dictating, then had a better idea. "Hey, Spike! Why don't **you** write to Princess Celestia and tell her what you've learned?"

"Really? Why, that's a big responsibility!"

"I know, but nothing my number-one assistant can't handle."

With that, he began to write. "Dear Princess Celestia: This is Spike, writing to you about my adventures. This week, I learned that being jealous and telling lies gets you nowhere in friendship. I also learned that there's plenty of love for every friend to share." With mounting fervor, he continued. "So from here on out, I promise that I, Spike, will—" He abruptly stopped, falling asleep on the table and murmuring.

Twilight was caught off guard at this as she gave a gentle smile as she shook her head a bit. Chronicle just rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Spike."

"Hoo?" Owlowiscious seemed to ask.

"Who? Spike. You kn—" She caught herself. "Ohhhh!" Then walked away, laughing to herself at having finally caught on to the reason for Spike's confusion in all of his "conversations" with Owlowiscious. The nocturnal bird swiveled his head to incidentally face the Surveillance 'camera' on Spike and winked at it.

Chronicle gave another sigh as he dissipated, having turned out to be a magical clone. _They may be idiots, but they're __**my**__ idiots. If only I can get them to be more sensible…It's gonna be a nigh-impossible road._

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

Note:

(1) Adventure Time. I'm into it too and watching it while waiting for Season 4.  
(2) Sue me, I got no idea how minotaurs are named other than Iron Will.

nightelf37: Sorry if I focused too much on side-stories, but this fanfic is mainly in Chronicle's POV. I know it's not a good excuse, but I needed to pad out the part on what he was doing while Spike was doing the stuff you know he did in the episode. That and I needed to connect this with the little flashback sequence Chronicle had in "Stare Master" before Angel woke him up. See ya on Third!


End file.
